


Lagoon

by hallowedmaiden



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 13:58:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11292081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hallowedmaiden/pseuds/hallowedmaiden
Summary: Elizabeth goes into the jungle desperate to be clean and leaves with something far more tantalizing. Sparrabeth smut. Post DMC. Chapter amount TBD.





	1. Lagoon

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a story that is something I cooked up to take a break from PotM. Hope you all enjoy ;)
> 
> I changed the rating upon further reflection. If anyone thinks it can go back in Mature, let me know.

She ran the back of her hand across her forehead for the hundredth time in an hour.

It was _hot_. So hot that she had seriously contemplated peeling off all of her clothes and drowning herself in the water she was currently standing in front of.

It had been exactly four days since they had rescued Jack from the Locker, and it had been exactly four days since Jack had actually spoken to her. All manners of expression upon his face had been directed at her, but she longed to hear him speak to her again.

She remembered the cool feeling of the iron when she had secured it around his wrist, she remembered the way his eyes had danced between resignation, anger, admiration, and hurt, never quite settling on one long enough for her to appropriately respond.

They had entered into a new dynamic, a new territory. Before, it had been all shameless banter and sarcasm, as exciting as it might have been. At least, that is what she had tried to tell herself, until the way her skin tingled and her heart seemed to set itself on fire every time he even looked in her direction could no longer be explained away with excuses. And when that realization had set in, the fire that dominated her body late at night grew into a mighty inferno, scorching her insides and melting her brain into mush when her fingers wandered under the waistband of her breeches. Every now and then she would wallow in guilt over betraying Will like that, but she was powerless against the hypnotizing aura that Jack Sparrow had.

Now, they were stuck in some kind of a strange impasse, united yet separated, where they had each had a taste of the other, yet were both unwilling to make the next move. And damn herself and every single traitorous part of her body, she had _enjoyed_ that taste. The flavor of his mouth had been spicy and exotic, and as evidenced by her tracing her lips every time she thought of the way her body had fit perfectly with his, which was often, the man could bloody _kiss_.

She would freely admit that she had thought about what kissing him might be like more times than she had thought about almost anything else during that voyage to Isla Cruces. Daydreams of pulling him into his cabin and pushing him against the wall transfigured her face into something wild and amorous that even _James_ noticed.

Of course, she had adamantly denied it when he had called her out, but that was just to keep up pretenses. She had been hopelessly madly in lust with the damned pirate captain, and there was _nothing_ she could have done to relieve her predicament.

And the bloody miscreant had _known_ it. He would smirk at her in _just_ that way to let her _know_ that he knew what kind of thoughts about him ran through her mind. Several times, he let her inside to see his thoughts, and she had come to the conclusion that he desperately wanted her as well, with the way his irises turned a shade darker when he trailed his eyes down her body when he didn't think she was looking, or when he would suddenly, without explanation, retreat to his cabin.

She might not know a lot about the sexual realm, but she knew enough to know exactly what was making him flee, and the amount of entertainment she had gotten from it had only fueled her own desires. Her deviant mind had pictured him doing _that_ , and once that image had been insinuated into her brain, it only opened the door to a rabbit hole of scandalous images.

The Caribbean sea before her was taking on a sparkling orange hue as the sun sank beneath the edge of the water. It was beautiful, much like the electrifying tension she was feeling just by being on the same _island_ as Jack. The anticipation of whether he would decide to just kill her or attempt to pick up where they left off was leaving her on a teetering edge.

When the latest wave of heat prickled at her skin, she concluded that she needed to be _clean_ , and it needed to happen soon. The island that they had anchored off of was big enough to have some kind of water source besides the ocean on it, and she was going to find it.

"Elizabeth, we need-"

She hadn't even heard him come up behind her, but the impatience for fresh water was consuming her rapidly, and the looming threat of conflict made her turn immediately and cut Will off.

"I don't want to fight with you right now. I am drenched in sweat, and unless I find somewhere where I can take a bath, I will continue to be miserable," she snapped, looking down at herself in mild disgust.

Stalking past Will, catching his frustrated expression, she headed off of the beach and into the jungle, not caring if anyone was watching her, especially a certain pirate.

As soon as she breached the treeline, the atmosphere around her changed. It was a little cooler here, and the lack of noise made for a welcome relief from the chatter of the crew.

The distance she had to walk, however, started to wear on her after what must have been a mile of alternating between looking down at the ground to avoid tripping and straining her ears to pick up _any_ sign of water.

Then, finally, as though she had just discovered the location of the Holy Grail, the distant noise of a waterfall gradually reached her ears, getting louder with every step she took. She had a hard time restraining herself from _sprinting_.

Eventually, she finally saw the moonlight reflecting off of a fairly large crystal clear pool of water. A rather large rock structure hung over the portion of the pool that she could see, and the water extended past it to the east, which meant that the waterfall was somewhere in that direction. After quickly checking to make sure that none of the other crew had somehow gotten the same idea as her, she stepped over to the side of the pool and cautiously began to take her clothes off one piece at a time.

As soon as she was blissfully nude, her clothes in a small pile next to her, she slowly stepped into the water, finding it to be the perfect temperature. She swam over to the rock face, and leaned back against it, relaxing languidly in the crystalline blue liquid. The water was just shallow enough here for her feet to lay flat on the sandy bottom. After a few moments, she allowed herself to slip under the water. She swam towards where the waterfall must be and surfaced.

A glorious second and a half of ignorance passed before she realized exactly what she had surfaced to. She might as well have been staring at a cannon that was fully prepared to shoot her in the face for the panic that turned her body into an immovable statue, frozen in the water. Panic that was very rapidly turning into arousal without her bloody consent, sending heat pooling between her legs.

She couldn't look away, nor did she really want to look away. She just prayed to whatever deity might be listening that he did not notice her there floundering in the water, because her limbs had become unresponsive.

 _Nothing_ had prepared her to be subjected to a completely soaked, and completely naked Jack Sparrow.

During her many fantasies, he had of course been featured without clothing, but fantasies and reality were worlds apart, and she had found him incredibly attractive fully decked out in his captain outfit, nevermind with _nothing_.

She was quite positive, without a shadow of a doubt really, that she could be sentenced to _death_ at that very moment with a smile on her face, because she had resigned herself so completely to never seeing _him_ like _this_ after what she had done, that she felt like the universe was taking a little bit of pity on her.

The water that was falling from the stream above the pool was traveling down every ridge and every angle of his body, making him look as though he had been carved from a block of bronze marble. His frame was exactly as she had imagined it to be, hardened with lean muscle from years of being aboard a ship, and the moonlight coming off of the pool only added to the attractiveness that _dripped_ off of him.

He was standing on a small rock platform that was protruding out of the pool, facing the area where she had come from, and his head was thrown back casually, exposing the long column of his neck. His full lips were parted, and his chest was rising and falling with steady breaths.

Abandoning his face, her gaze made its tortuous way down his body, taking note of the hard planes of his stomach, the tattoos that she couldn't quite make out, the smattering of scars, and…

She couldn't quite stop the blush that extended across her chest when her gaze made a sudden stop _there_. Suddenly she made a small gasping noise in her throat, and the panic returned swiftly when his eyes snapped open.

He had just started to turn his head to look at the spot where she had been when she plunged herself under the water, and immediately sank deep enough so that he might not see her swim back to the rock face that she had been leaning against earlier, which was thankfully, out of his line of sight.

The second she reached it, she surfaced, being incredibly careful to not make any noise. Water cascaded down her body from her hair as she leaned back against the hard surface, her heart hammering in her chest. She was frozen there now, terrified of trying to escape the pool altogether. Of course, due to all of the adrenaline rushing through her body, she had failed to remember exactly how clear the water was.

She heard him sink into the water before she saw him, and when she saw him, she only saw a flash of skin a few feet from her under the water before he came up, quite literally, right in front of her. He made the discovery that he could stand there in the water just like she had.

Swallowing thickly, she watched him stare at her as though he couldn't quite figure out whether she was a figment of his imagination or not. His dark eyes held an emotion that she couldn't identify, and she didn't _dare_ to think about what kind of expression he saw on _her_ face.

Then he glanced down, and immediately looked frustrated. It was nearly impossible, but she managed to hold back the snicker at the fact that he was frustrated at not being able to see _all_ of her, which brought the reality back to her that she was standing in the water naked with an equally unclothed pirate.

"I felt _dirty_ ," was all she could come up with. She was more shocked that her voice actually remembered how to form words, regardless of how breathless she sounded. He was looking at her again, a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Yes, feeling dirty _does_ generally warrant trekking into the jungle in the dark to spy on a vulnerable pirate captain."

"I didn't _know_ that _you_ would be here."

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, and she realized that his question was entirely serious. She had her answer when the image of his backside paraded into her mind. She wasn't entirely sure she could handle much more of a visual assault.

"No," she said, a little bit too adamantly for her taste. "I...I didn't _mean_ to look at you. You obviously came out here for privacy-"

He cut her off, his voice dropping to a delectable rumble.

"Oh come off it, you aren't anymore sorry about ogling me back there than you were about feeding me to the Kraken."

His voice was teasing, but she still felt a horrible pang of guilt. He clearly picked up on it.

"We can cross that bridge at a different time, love," he said, sighing.

She was more concerned about what was going to happen within the next few minutes. Nodding mutely, she handed over control of the situation to him.

"I don't actually mind, you know, that you were looking. Modesty is something that vanishes as soon as you spend more than four hours on a pirate ship. At least for men, anyways."

Blinking at him, she noticed the smirk that was once again turning the corner of his mouth up, and she bloody swore that he _loved_ that she had examined his physique from head to toe unabashedly. Angling her face downwards, she checked to see how much the water blocked her from his view, and then he answered her query for her.

"Can't see anything unless I squint real hard, don't worry. Though I would hazard a guess that half of you wants me to drag you out of this water right now and plant you on the shore of this pool."

She was about to deny it, was about to inform him that she had wanted the exact opposite of what he said, but then she realized that lying to herself at this point was just a waste of time, so instead, she glanced to the side to stare at the rock face. The beach wasn't exactly the location that had been dominating her thoughts.

Her brain caught up with her a half a second later when it occurred to her that he would be able to tell precisely _why_ she had looked at the rock, and the blush that had just started to recede came back full force.

A small gasp tumbled across her lips when her head snapped around to look at him again. There was no time for embarrassment, so she settled on standing her ground, which was difficult, because Jack's eyes had turned two shades darker, and he was looking at _her_ like he had no other plans besides taking her up on her unspoken offer.

" _Not_ the shore, then?"

His eyebrow was crooked suggestively.

"I didn't say _anything_."

"Didn't have to, love."

Her breath was shortening, coming out in puffs that she was entirely too aware of. The water swirled when he inched a little closer, and she attempted to scoot back when she discovered that she had nowhere to go.

"This isn't quite the same scenario, with the lack of a ship and me here and you there, but I think I can successfully manage to pick up where we left off, savvy?"

She should tell him no, she should inform him that she was still with _Will_ , she should explain to him that she could not afford to lose her virginity to a pirate out in the middle of the jungle. There were a great many things that she _should_ have done, but imagining what his body was doing beneath the water was absolutely not one of them.

"I...we can't, Jack," and she flushed with how unconvincing she sounded.

He tilted his head back, breaking eye contact with her.

"You are really going to do it, hm? Going to come out here and insinuate yourself into a pool of water with _me_ , without a stitch of clothing, and then tell me that I _can't_ have you?"

Even with the frustration in his voice and the pent up lust that was plainly written across his features, she knew without question that he would let her go right now if she wanted to, and he would pretend like this had never happened.

He might _hate_ every second of it, but he would do it. The water sloshing around them drug her out of her mind as he turned away, and without thinking about it first, her hand struck out to catch his wrist.

She didn't release it.

"Maybe...maybe just _once_."

A fire was lit within her when he rotated around slowly back to her, a question in his eyes. She had control of the game now, just for a little bit, and she knew the rules of this game required her to become incredibly selfish if she wished to survive.

"No, love."

The disappointment ripped through her quicker than she would have imagined, further confirming to herself that she wanted Jack Sparrow to take her against the rock behind her.

"It won't be only once," he continued, a devilish light in his chocolate eyes. "You aren't the type to be satisfied after only one taste. I would wager that you will hunt me down next time _on purpose_ and demand a repeat performance."

Relief flooded her, and she began unconsciously pulling on his wrist. He moved to stand right in front of her, but just far away to not have any part of his body touching her.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Do you _doubt_ me? _Really_?"

No, she absolutely did _not_ doubt him, but she couldn't let him win quite that easily.

"I don't have anything but a kiss to go off of," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Trust me, had we not been in the situation that we were in at the time, you would have had much more than a kiss to fuel your late night _activities_."

He was inching closer to her, and if she leaned forward just a little bit, she could catch his lips with hers. He, apparently, had other ideas.

"What _exactly_ are you insinuating?" she demanded as he brushed his beautiful mouth across her neck just under her ear. She worried that her ability to speak would be taken away from her.

"There is no way you survived that entire voyage without touching yourself, Lizzie."

"And you didn't?" she shot back, barely managing to contain the gasp that bubbled up at the knowledge that he had thought about _her_ doing _that._ He guided the hand that was still clutching his wrist to the rock underneath the water, and then pushed it against the hard surface so that the back of her hand was flat, threading his fingers through hers.

"I never said that. I was in my damn cabin trying to _relieve_ myself more than I was on the bloody deck, all thanks to _you_. And don't even bother trying to convince me that you didn't picture _that_."

It was time to change the rules of the game _just_ a little bit.

"Oh, I _did_. I pictured the way your hand would slowly travel up every glorious inch of you, stroking faster with every agonizing second, and I pictured the frustration in your face when you struggled with the fact that it wasn't _me_ doing it."

It left her a bit winded to talk like that, so wantonly, but damn it if it didn't bring her satisfaction. He retracted himself from planting small kisses along her jawline to look at her in surprise, eyebrows shooting up beneath his bandana.

Then, the expression on his face transformed from teasing to _hungry_.

"Glorious? Interesting that you assume such things. Are you sure you didn't take a peek then too?"

"I just have a very good imagination."

He didn't say anything. Instead, he took her free hand and pulled it through the water.

There was a moment when she couldn't quite figure out what he was doing, and then she just about _died_ when he placed her hand directly on his cock.

She certainly forgot to breathe, and wrapped her shaking fingers around him.

"There you go, love, go ahead and see if your _imagination_ was correct or not," he growled, leaning forward to kiss the corner of her mouth, planting his hands next to her shoulders, obviously reveling in the fact that he had won this round.

It became immediately apparent that using the word _glorious_ was an incredibly _deliciously_ accurate way of describing what she currently held in her hand. He was as hard as steel, yet so velvety soft that she decided she wouldn't mind touching him like this for rest of her days.

Suddenly she realized that despite all of her fantasies and her very extensive imagination, she doubted herself very much with what she was supposed to do next. Jack chuckled, a low rumble in his chest, and took pity on her.

Her eyes fluttered closed when he wrapped his right hand gently around hers, keeping the left flat against the stone next to her shoulder.

"It really doesn't matter what you do, as long as you don't attempt to injure me," he said with the perfect amount of huskiness, as he slid her hand up and down in lazy strokes from the base to the tip, her mind dimly coming up with an answer of eight inches to her running question.

She thought she might ask something, but then he slanted his mouth over hers, and all thought of speaking abandoned her for a few seconds. He tasted exactly the same as he had before, but now she could enjoy every second of it without...well, _without_.

Gently thrusting her face forward, she broke the kiss.

"But what do _you_ want me to do?" she whispered.

His mouth stretched into a grin that sent pangs of heat to her core that were almost frightening in their intensity. He leaned forward again, his lips barely touching hers, and moved their hands a little faster, tightening her grip. Then when she was able to accurately replicate it on her own, he released her hand, and she suddenly found out how profoundly difficult it was to concentrate on what she was doing with his hand curving around her breast _just_ so.

He let out a low hum of appreciation against her mouth from her ministrations, and his eyes slipped shut when she sped up her strokes. Closing the distance between them, he captured her lips in a kiss again, and fully molded his body against hers, pinning her against the rock.

She began to experiment, alternating between slow and fast strokes, rotating her hand from side to side, and paused at the top to stroke her thumb across the tip. She was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath, and a muttered curse word that sounded so _excellent_ coming from him.

" _Fuck_ ," he hissed, tearing his mouth away from hers to _pant_ against her cheek. "Quick study you are, darling."

Her heart started to beat faster when she understood exactly how much power she had over him in that moment. His index finger and thumb caressed the hardening peak of her nipple, reminding her that he could turn this game around on her faster than a lightning strike if he wanted. A low sound emanated from his throat, and it took her a second to realize that it was a moan, and it took her one more second for her to be ridiculously satisfied that she had _made_ him moan.

Then he placed his hand on hers again and stilled her movements. She angled her face to look at him, confused, and noticed that his eyes were nearly pitch black now.

"Can't have any more of that Lizzie, not if you want this to go further without a break."

His voice was lower than she had ever heard it, laced with the raw tinge of heady pleasure.

 _Further_? Did she want it to go further? The increasing ache between her legs answered her question for her, and she dropped her hand from touching him, letting it hang at her side.

"I might kill you again if I leave this jungle without having had you inside of me," she said, jutting her chin out, and then her lips parted in satisfaction when she felt his cock _twitch_ against her stomach.

"Eager, are we?" he teased, brushing his thumb across her cheek in a light caress, his face betraying how aroused he was. She shivered when his fingers started a path down her body, twirling circles on the taut skin of her neck, trailing across the curve of her breast, and then stopping to stroke the flat plane of her stomach.

Without realizing what she was doing, she rose her hips to press into him, and he stilled the movements of his hand completely.

"What do you want, Lizzie?"

She wondered if this man had been put on this planet for the sole purpose of turning her blood into lava with everything he did. _Probably_.

"I-I need," and then her voice failed her, so she gripped the hand that was splayed across her stomach, and pushed it lower. A lazy smile adorned Jack's face.

"Sorry love, but I only respond to _verbal_ requests," he snarked, watching her struggle. She accepted his challenge, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I need you to touch me," she moved his hand lower, brushing it against the soft triangle of straw-colored curls, and lower still, " _here_."

" _Ahh_ ," he purred, heat flashing in his eyes.

She was quite good at pretending that she was prepared for what he was about to do to her, but the second his fingers touched her, she could barely _breathe_.

"Tell me what you like, Lizzie," she heard him say as if the damned man didn't already know _exactly_ how to play her, and she jerked her head up and down in what she hoped resembled a nod. His right hand cupped her breast, gently kneading it, and he leaned in again to start planting more light kisses anywhere he could reach.

Her perception of reality narrowed when his fingers began sliding up and down her slit without actually penetrating. Then, his other hand abandoned her chest and found its way behind her.

"Scoot forward a bit."

She did as he asked, and he curled his fingers around her bottom and pushed up. The water made it easier to maneuver her legs around his waist, and when he lifted her, she was well and truly pinned between the rocky surface behind her and Jack's hard body, his hand still between her legs. Her hips rocked in rhythm with his movements, and then his clever fingers located the small pearl that was begging for attention.

Unable to stop the cry that spilled from her, she found that she didn't care, and tilted her head back, relaxing into his touch.

" _There...oh…_ " and then he applied a little bit more pressure and swirled his thumb a little faster, causing her voice to fail her again, her gasps piercing the air instead.

"Let go, love. _Fly_ for me," he whispered, sending a new level of heat raging through her. Just when she didn't think she could fall any further into the dizzying chasm, he dipped two fingers into her entrance, staying shallow enough as to avoid hurting her. The heady thought of a part of Jack being _inside_ her was the final push she needed to tumble over the edge of sanity.

Her body surged against him, going as taut as a bowstring as her clit released a terrifying flood of pleasure. A cry left her lips every time her hips pulsated against his hand with the electrifying rapture that was surely going to _kill_ her with its intensity, and he kept going, the terrible man, until she plummeted from the high that had stolen her very life force. Breathing returned to her slowly, her lungs pushing out air in heaving gasps for a good thirty seconds.

Finally, he withdrew, and when she opened her eyes, his were glittering with the smuggest satisfaction that she had ever seen on his face.

"Wow," she said quietly, allowing a small amount of wonder to seep into her voice, and then blushed furiously at her reaction as he rested his forehead against hers.

"You're beautiful, you know," and then he looked mildly surprised, as though he hadn't meant to say it. Intentional or not, it warmed her heart, a smile slowly overtaking her face. "That'll teach you to doubt me, by the way," he added in a prideful tone.

"I never did," she replied, angling her hips up again to feel his hardness trapped between them. His eyes widened a fraction when she began trailing her fingers across it again, but he didn't show any other reaction. Then he eased her legs down from around his waist, and she presented him with a flash of confusion.

He leaned in again to place a tender kiss on her lips. "As much as I would like to take you against this rock," he said, tapping the surface behind her with one long finger, "and don't worry, we _will_ progress to that level eventually, I don't want to hurt you."

" _Hurt_ me?"

Sighing, looking like he was fighting a maelstrom of desire to keep the pace slow for her sake, he placed his fingers at her entrance again and penetrated her just enough to lightly push at the piece of spongy tissue.

" _Oh_ ," was all she could say, as she had forgotten that _little_ detail.

"Oh," he mocked, then his face brightened, and he lifted her up again, her legs coming to lock around his waist once more. "I suppose I _could_ carry you over there, though."

She let her cheek rest against his as he walked them towards the shore, not caring who or what could possibly see them at that moment because for the time being, nothing else mattered.


	2. Shore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! I decided to split this up into three parts instead of two, so look out for the final part soon!

"Recall that I did propose to you. You could have had this a long time ago," he said, twitching his hips to accentuate his meaning.

She shifted her face from his cheek to look at him.

"It was horrible timing, and besides you weren't actually serious anyways," she responded. The look on his face suggested that she might be wrong, but she didn't say anything else about it. "I don't want _just_ that, Jack."

He eased her down to a patchy section of grass next to the pool, then propped himself up on his elbows above her.

"No?" he asked, and she could tell that he either didn't fully understand her meaning, or he didn't believe her. She watched him dip his head to stare at her now exposed breasts, blushing both from nervousness and the heat in his eyes.

"Relax love," he murmured against her skin, glancing up at her in surprise.

"Sorry, this is just the first time that anyone's ever…" she trailed off, noticing that the same thought had just occurred to him.

" _I'm_ the very first? For _everything_?"

She nodded. "Well, besides _me_ , yes."

The perfect wonder in his eyes as he stared at her lying underneath him was something that she had _not_ expected.

"You have _nothing_ ," he placed a soft kiss on her nipple, "to worry about."

"But-"

He raised his head again to interject. "Let me help you gain perspective. I have been with a lot of women. _A lot_. And you," he paused and inclined his head at her body, "are far and away the most beautiful one that I have ever seen. Really, I decided that the _first_ time I saw you, with your practically translucent shift, lying on that dock staring up at me."

"I _was_ a bit fascinated with you."

Goosebumps littered her skin when his hand disappeared between her legs again, playfully caressing her.

"I'm convinced at this point that you only objected to my arrest because you wanted _this_ ," he teased, twitching his hips for emphasis.

"The same could be said for you saving me," she retorted, not sounding as confident as she could have with _that_ nestled against her thigh.

"No, I saved you because I am a _good man,_ as you kept insisting during one of the several attempts at seduction aboard the _Pearl_. Besides, it isn't just your body that makes you beautiful, love. I have never met a woman who can engage in a battle of words with me and come out equal quite like you can."

 _No one_ could ever say that the man didn't have extensive skill in raising a woman's confidence.

"Well, that's all fine, but I don't know if I can…" she stopped, too embarrassed to continue. He withdrew his hand from her entrance, focusing his full attention on her face.

"Can _what_ , love?"

She panicked for a moment, trying to search for the words to explain herself.

"What if I can't please _you_?" tumbled out, leaving her feeling a bit silly.

An almost comical look of dumbfoundedness crossed his face, transitioning into a look of barely restrained laughter.

" _What_?" she snapped.

Then a quiet chuckle did come out. "Well, I will help you alleviate your concerns in just a moment, but first, allow me to explain the ways that you have already _pleased_ me tonight."

He positioned both hands in front of her so she could see, and then began ticking off his fingers.

"First, the fact that you really thought you could escape undetected from _me_ after getting an eyeful amused me to no end. Second, the way you touched me back there _would_ have made me come had I not stopped you," he halted to watch the pretty blush extend down her chest, "and third, I will reiterate exactly how beautiful you are to look at when I am touching _you_."

She reached down to wrap her fingers around him again in response, stroking him.

"You liked this?" and she damn well knew the answer just by the suddenly pained expression on his face.

" _Like_. I _like_ it very much."

He let her continue for a few moments and then stilled her hand.

"I mentioned to you that I had another idea to make your insecurities perish. I am going to give you full control over _me_. You can do whatever you want to do to me. Call it _practice_."

"Practice?" she echoed.

No further explanation was needed when he shifted to lay on his back next to her, gently tugging at her until she climbed up to straddle him.

If someone had told her that _Captain Jack Sparrow_ would one day be lying naked under her, _completely_ at her mercy, she might have told them to go jump off of the battlements.

"Anything I want?"

He waved his hand down his body, smirking at her. "Anything you want."

In one of her finest moments yet, a dazzling idea came to her.

"Close your eyes, please," she purred in the most innocent tone she could muster.

Rather than reacting with suspicion, he grinned at her and made a show of settling his head down into the grass with his eyes firmly shut.

She inhaled deeply to calm her nerves and admired him without panic this time. The moonlight cast a bluish glow on his bronzed skin, adding to the mystique of him. His pitch black hair was still wet, causing small droplets of water to travel down his chest. The muscle beneath his skin was sculpted just right, giving him a lean yet hardened physique.

He really was a magnificent creature. It was also constantly in the back of her mind that he was being incredibly generous with her. Any lesser man would have forgone all of this, skipping straight to the main event.

"I am going to require you to tell me about all of your tattoos at some point," she said, leaning forward to place both of her hands on his chest. She latched onto the point where his neck met his right shoulder and laved her tongue there.

"You will _require_ me?" he goaded, giving her a low chuckle that sent delicious vibrations through her.

"Mhm, and your scars, if you wouldn't mind."

"Lizzie, I will happily tell you anything you want to know about me _at some point_ , because, at the moment, I am spending every second just waiting to wake up and discover that this was all a very pleasant dream, so anything happening _beyond_ this is almost too good to hope for."

She kissed her way down his shoulder, memorizing the clean taste of his skin.

"Oh, _Jack_. I told you earlier that I certainly want more than just your body, and if this is going to happen, I refuse to let it be just the once. In fact, I might just take you hostage and never let you go."

" _You're_ going to take me hostage?"

She decided that the genuine laugh that accompanied his barb was one of the most beautiful sounds that she had ever heard.

"Don't underestimate me," she retorted, nipping at his skin.

"Actually, being tied to something with a blindfold on can be great fun, as long as you trust the other person."

That image, regardless of which one of them had the blindfold on, sent shivers up her spine as she dropped her head to capture his nipple in her mouth. She had been unsure if this would have the same effect on him as it did on her, but when he hissed through his teeth, she doubled her efforts, swirling her tongue around the hardened nub.

" _Lizzie_."

Her name in that low growl of his reminded her of how insane her need was for him. So insane, in fact, that she snuck her hand down to her center, and paused for a moment when she discovered how _wet_ she was. Releasing his nipple, she craned her body to capture his lips. He immediately responded, his hand gliding up her side. Without giving him any indication of what she was doing, she began to lightly rub her clit as she kissed him.

At least she didn't _plan_ on giving him any indication. When he slipped his tongue into her mouth, that combined with the friction of her fingers made her throat clench into the _tiniest_ moan, and his eyes snapped open, immediately glancing down.

She _swore_ that she felt him harden even more from where he was resting against the cleft of her bottom.

" _God_ , you're _killin'_ me, love," he rasped, watching her for another second before laying his head back down.

"At least it will be a happy death," she teased in an equally raspy voice, heavy with desire.

" _Indeed_."

With his eyes shut again, she withdrew her hand from between her legs and slid her way down his body, pausing to trace the muscles in his stomach with her finger, watching them twitch from her touch.

Then, she arrived directly above her prize, glancing up to see if he suspected anything. _This_ act she had not only heard about but had _seen_ firsthand one evening in the mansion. It had been just before bedtime, and she had snuck down to the kitchens for some water. On her way back up, a _maid_ had been crouched on her knees in front of a Navy soldier, her head bobbing back and forth.

The image had been hard to shake for quite some time after that, but she had never thought that she would get the opportunity to _perform_ it, especially not on the man beneath her.

She would have to be quick, and she would have to put aside any insecurities for now, despite the fact that her body was _vibrating_ with nerves, as mucking this up would traumatize her for days.

Checking one more time to make sure he was not paying attention, she bent her head and swirled her tongue around the tip of his cock. His reaction was one that she would cherish for quite some time.

"Fucking _Christ_ ," he hissed, as his hips immediately bucked, both of his hands forming fists in the sandy grass. Gone was the playful teasing tones of his voice, replaced by a raw heavy growl that came from deep in his chest, sending more moisture straight to her core.

He was watching her now, propped up on his elbows again, his face a mix of fascination and pinpoint intensity. She smiled with her eyes and wrapped her hand around the bit of him that she knew she wasn't going to be able to reach. With the goal of making Jack lose all of his seemingly iron control, she took the first couple of inches into her mouth.

"Oh my _god_ ," he moaned, tilting his head back as she enveloped more of him with each stroke of her lips. When she reintroduced her tongue, his body _quivered_ with pleasure, and she could tell that he was rapidly coming undone when he began to unevenly chant her name under his breath.

His eyebrows were pinched together, and his jaw was clenched. She also noticed that a fine sheen of sweat was starting to appear on his skin. Running her right hand along the ridge of muscle in his hip, she pushed down to hold him in place as much as possible and snickered internally when he swore at her again.

Excitement rushed through her as she prepared to send him over the edge. Sliding her head down until she had half of him enclosed in her mouth, she began to gently suck on him, gaining strength as she went, and she would have smiled when he threaded his hands through her hair had she been able to.

Then he hastily began tugging on her, hoarsely whispering some kind of warning, but she had prepared for this too and swatted his hand away.

Just when she didn't think his body could be wound any tighter, one last swirl of her tongue had him going _rigid_ against her, and then he _snapped_ , his face twisting into a beautiful expression of exquisite agony as he came into her mouth. She took all of it, fascinated by how aroused she was from the _power_ she had exercised over him.

Finally, he went limp, dropping back down into the grass like a ragdoll. His face was completely slack with contentedness when his softening cock slipped from her mouth, and she decided that she would fight tooth and nail to live just to see Jack's face in the afterglow as many times as the universe would allow it.

She waited for him to regain the ability to speak. His eyes slid open, and a languid smile slowly appeared on his face.

"I...I don't know _where_ you learned that, but please, don't hesitate to do it again whenever you bloody want, savvy?."

A ridiculous amount of gratification flooded her at the knowledge that she had done so well, and she crawled back up his body to pepper small kisses around the two bullet wounds that still marked his chest.

"I never _learned_ it anywhere, I just caught a glimpse of it when I was younger. I was mostly guessing."

He sat up, taking her with him, adjusting her so that she was straddling him again.

"Of all of the things that I imagined doing to and with you, _that_ was the one thing that I didn't think I had a hope of convincing you of. Caught me by surprise, you did," he said softly, playing with her hair.

"That _was_ the idea."

Then he glanced down, breaking eye contact with her.

"You um...you didn't have to...well, you didn't _have_ to swallow it, you know."

Never in a million years on any planet did she think she would ever see the great pirate captain look _bashful_. A musical laugh escaped her mouth and then doubled at his newly disgruntled expression.

"I don't mean to laugh Jack, I just find it amusing that you continue to underestimate me." she tittered.

" _Underestimate you?_ No no, you misunderstand me. It's just that, well it doesn't _taste_ the best."

That shut her laughter down.

"The taste wasn't awful, but how would you know what it tastes like anyway?" she questioned, even though she already had her obvious answer.

Then a devilish light returned to his eyes, and he smirked at her.

"Ah ah ah, that is information that you will have to work a little bit harder for," he drawled, waggling his finger at her.

"Just like you have to work a little bit harder to be _up to_ the next task?" she teased, grinding her hips on him. His face went from playful to the expression of a predator eyeing his next meal in under a second.

"Well, if you keep doing that, you will be doing all of the work for me. Also, keep in mind exactly _who_ you are currently sitting on top of."

And he certainly reminded her when he took her head in his hands and devoured her mouth in a blood-melting kiss that also made her very aware of the wetness that was starting to coat her innermost thighs.

"Lie back down, Lizzie," he purred, his voice laced with an unspoken promise of something magnificent. "Since you serviced me so perfectly, the only course of action that I can see is to return the favor, and I _promise_ , you will _beg_ me for more of this."

His voice was like molten velvet as he settled his body over hers again, glaring down at her.

"The uncontrollable need for this has been driving me insane ever since you planted the thought in my head with that pretty mouth of yours."

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

Her thighs clenched when his fingers danced at her center.

"I _have_ to know what you taste like."


	3. Zeal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 has arrived! 
> 
> This will have one more chapter, and I will most likely write a sequel to it as a longer story. We'll see.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

She exhaled a shaky breath, struck by his heated words. His mouth was talented in a wide breadth of things. Her heart raced when it curved into a smirk that was focused on her. His lips could make her wild when he wrapped them around her nipples, and he made her melt when he fastened them to hers, giving everything he had to her.

That was all fine and well, but the thought of his mouth being anywhere near  _that_ was a dizzying prospect, both because she was nervous about being that  _exposed_  and because if he could make her come as hard as she had with just his fingers, she didn't dare to think of the heights that his mouth could bring her to.

Anything that she could have possibly said in response became scrambled up in her head since she had evidently lost the ability to form coherent thoughts, so she settled for nodding.

Jack curved both of his hands around her breasts, marveling at them.

"I thought I didn't have a hope of ever seeing these, nevermind getting to touch them. So you'll excuse me if I spend a great deal of time just making sure that they are, in fact, real and here for me," he explained when he saw her staring at him curiously.

It occurred to her that he was opening himself up more than he probably did for anyone, and the thought that he felt her worthy of his trust, especially after the crimes that she committed against him nearly brought tears to her eyes, but she resisted them. Crying would do nothing for the current mood.

"It's ironic that the virginal governor's daughter shows her breasts to a man that has probably seen more of them than he has strands of hair," she said.

He glanced up at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Lizzie, you need to understand something. The fact that you actually allowed me to not only see you, but to be the  _first_  man to see you, is probably the most precious gift I have ever been given. And stop comparing yourself to anyone. I mean it when I say that these," he gently squeezed her breasts, "are perfect."

He bent to kiss the valley between them, while she laid there, basking in the exquisite  _rightness_ that his words made wash over her. Everything about being here, in this moment with Jack, made her feel like her world had aligned, and that nothing could possibly go wrong.

She sighed as he kissed a scorching path down her torso, massaging the curves of her body with his hands as he went. Finally, he was situated at her knees.

"Open up, love."

She expected panic to bombard her, but nothing came. The only thing that she could identify was the buzzing anticipation of exposure.

With some coaxing, she parted her legs, feeling as though she was entering entirely new territory that she had not prepared for in the slightest. However, when his face transformed into the most unguarded expression of  _awe_ that she had ever seen, all remaining fear left her. A low exhale of breath escaped him, making her wonder what was going through his mind.

"What?" she said quietly.

"I just...I don't know how many more ways I can explain this. I expected to be crowned King of England before you even  _hinted_ at feeling something for me. I resigned myself to you always being that one thing that I could never have."

"But aboard the  _Pearl,_ you knew that I desired you. You always looked at me like-"

"Yeah, I knew that you wanted me, but a great number of women had  _wanted_ me before you ever came along, and...well, I didn't think that I would ever be anything more than a passing fancy to you."

It was in that moment, that one precious moment, that the realization struck her like an anvil, and immediately following on the heels of that thought was the realization that it had been true from the moment that he cut the corset from her chest. The absolute raw emotion that she felt from what he was saying was all the confirmation she needed.

She was  _in love_ with the damned terrible beautiful pirate.

"Oh, Jack, you were  _never_ that unimportant to me. I shackled you to the damn mast because the intensity of what I felt for you absolutely terrified me. I killed you because I lov-"

Snapping her mouth shut, she stared at him, as he stared at her. They both knew what she had been about to say, and they both knew that she hadn't meant to reveal that information  _quite_ yet.

He swallowed, looking as though he had great difficulty with it. Abandoning her face, he looked down at her center again. She knew that she was practically dripping with arousal, and the admiration that was slowly overtaking his features was something to behold.

"I'm sorry," and that didn't quite cover the  _grief_ that she had experienced the second she slipped the shackles around his wrist. It had nearly destroyed her _._

"I told you, darling, we'll cross that bridge later."

Rearranging himself so that he was propped up on his elbows directly in front of her weeping center, he glanced up at her.

"Do I need to tell you that you are gorgeous again?" he asked, a small smile crooking the corner of his mouth. She relaxed, deciding that he had forgiven her for her betrayal. He might be a bit  _miffed_  about it, but he wasn't going to drown her in the pool.

"I don't think I will ever grow tired of hearing you say that. And I also don't think that you need to question my desire for you ever again...since...well,  _since_."

She was blushing furiously again as heat flared in his eyes when he refocused his gaze.

"Aye, love. You have me convinced. Right treasure you are, especially when you are  _this_ wet for me."

Oh.  _Oh._ This man was going to be the death of her.

He gently but firmly held her thighs open, and the first touch of his tongue was a sweeping stroke from the bottom to the top of her slit. She didn't even bother trying to muffle the deep moan that escaped her, nor the one that bubbled up at seeing the charming fulfillment that made his dark eyes sparkle.

"Almost better than rum, love."

 _Almost better than rum_.  _She_ might drown  _him_  in the pool instead.

Later, much later, the next century perhaps, because the second venture of his tongue danced across her folds so perfectly that the corner of her eyes stung with tears. He started slow, with shallow teasing laps, never quite nearing her entrance, and staying far enough away from her clit that she thought she might go mad. When he increased the pressure and dipped two fingers inside of her, she scrabbled to find purchase in the sand, her back arching off of the ground.

" _Jack_ …"

He replaced his fingers with his tongue, plunging it into her with zeal, his thumb finally massaging her clit in slow alternating circles.

"Oh, oh,  _oh_ ," and then her moans weren't even forming words anymore, just desperate noises of ecstasy as her body tightened. This time she could acutely feel the build up of pleasure under her skin, harsh and extraordinary.

She reached down to clutch the side of his head with her hand, and she wasn't sure if she was trying to push him closer or pull him away because his mouth was latched onto her clit now, and the entire world felt like it was falling out from under her.

Every sensation became magnified to the point where it almost  _hurt_ , and her heart became a wild thing, beating at a swift, vicious,  _mercurial_  pace, sending spasms of euphoria to every corner of her form. It was building, building higher and faster than she could handle with each stroke of his tongue, each vibration of his mouth, and she started to beg,  _plead_  for him to end it, her head thrashing from side to side.

Through all of it, she could dimly hear him murmuring things to her every time he detached himself for a few moments, stirring the fiery coiled knot in her belly.

Then she couldn't hear anything besides the roaring blood in her ears, and her body exploded,  _shattering_  into a thousand pieces, leaving her weeping and shouting whatever nonsense tumbled out of her mouth as white hot flares of pleasure fractured her clit at the very zenith of her orgasm.

For a moment, she wasn't sure of where or when or what she was, then it all slowly filtered back to her as she floated back down to the image of Jack dragging his thumb across his lips to collect her moisture, and then sticking out his tongue to lap it up.

He very nearly sent her back into the abyss.

"Are you with me, love?"

Was she? She didn't know, couldn't quite pin down what dimension she was in at the moment. The only thing she did know for certain is that Jack Sparrow had magical powers. Perhaps he had traded his soul to the devil for the ability to nearly kill women with just his mouth.

"I...I think so."

"Marvelous, thought I almost lost you there."

Through the haze, she realized that the damned pirate was  _bragging_. Not that he didn't have a reason to. Her limbs had become inert, and the only reason her legs weren't lying limp on the ground was that Jack still had his hands cupped around her thighs.

He eased her legs down and crawled back up her body. A thrill went through her as she discovered that he was once again hard, nestled against her core. She shifted her hips, watching in delight at the restrained agony barely showing through in his eyes.

She stilled when he placed a hand on her hip, his face growing serious.

"Lizzie, I am going to give you a chance right now to get up and walk away if you want to."

Get up and walk away? Was he mad? She didn't think she could persuade any part of her to get up and walk away if she had a line of fully loaded rifles pointed at her ready to fire.

"Jack, I'm not going anywhere. What do I have to do to convince you of that?"

He pushed out a sigh of frustration.

"Everything that we have done here up to this point has no lasting impact. You realize that your virginity is something that is gone, never to come back, once you give it to someone? If I take it from you, and you regret it the second we leave this jungle, this thing between us would never be the same, if it still existed at all."

She stared at him and realized that he thought she was acting out of recklessness.

"Regret? The only thing that I would regret is if I  _didn't_  let you take me. I am not a person who acts on impulse, Jack. I  _want you_. And there is nothing that you can say or do to convince me otherwise," she said, finality in her tone.

He studied her for a long moment, seriously inspected her face for any sign of doubt in her words, and then she was able to pinpoint the moment when he relaxed.

"Alright, love."

She relaxed too, reaching up to cup his face in her hand, stroking his cheek with her thumb. It was surreal that he was here, alive, and about to make love to her.

"This...this is going to hurt, Lizzie. I don't know how much, as the experience I have with virgins is incredibly limited. But it will be uncomfortable, I'm sure."

"I know, Jack. I-"

"It isn't just that, darling. You're rather...small, physically. And, well...I'm decidedly not."

Oh, she knew that too, with having had half of him in her mouth just a little while ago. Then her brain caught up and processed what he was saying.

"It might hurt more than it normally would?"

"Aye. Not much I can do about it."

She thought she might actually cry at the nervousness that he was expressing.

"Jack, I really don't care."

When he realized that he could do absolutely nothing to change her mind, he smiled just a little bit.

"I'll be careful up to a point love, but this," he reached down to once again emphasize the blockage of spongy tissue, "has to be done in one go. However, I will stay still afterward, even though it may actually kill me, until you give me permission to continue."

What had she done to deserve this man?

She watched as he settled himself against her entrance before refocusing his attention on her face, leaning down to capture her lips in a tender kiss.

She understood that he was trying to distract her the moment that he started to penetrate her because the painful sting she felt was something that she had not prepared for. On impulse she gripped his upper arms tightly, pinching her eyebrows together.

He released her mouth and rested his cheek against hers.

"Easy, love," he whispered, and now she could keenly hear the strain in his voice.

Finally, he hit her maidenhead and stopped. God, it really did hurt, and every muscle in her body screamed to stop the invasion.

"I'm...I'm fine," she insisted, but the lone tear that had leaked out of the corner of her eye evidently told him otherwise. He brushed it away and watched her face. Hesitation wasn't going to do her or him any good.

"Wrap your legs around my waist," he said, nudging her hip. She did so and noticed that the stinging lessened slightly. He leaned down to kiss her again, and then she closed her eyes to distract herself.

When he thrust forward, the pain that she had felt when her body was stretching to accommodate him was a small tickle compared to the burning she felt now. A quiet cry escaped her, and she clenched her legs, trying to control her breathing. Keeping to his promise, he stayed absolutely still once he was fully sheathed, and even through the pain, she could feel his muscles quivering from restraining himself.

Then, the discomfort started to ebb away. As it retreated, she could acutely feel his heartbeat against her chest, strong and steady. He was inhaling and exhaling as though the world depended on him staying calm, though she knew that he didn't give a damn about the world at the moment. His skin was warm where she still gripped his arms, and she let go of the left one to trace the tattoo there with her finger.

It was an outline of the  _Pearl_ , she realized. She was sitting in the water, sails unfurled, looking like the majestic pirate ship that she was.

Much like the majestic pirate that was currently muttering obscenities against the crook of her neck.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," she whispered. And it didn't, because she could  _feel_ him there, filling her, hard as iron, throbbing in time with their hearts.

She couldn't find a word to describe the emotion that she felt in that moment. Perfection, fulfillment, completion, none of them were adequate. The only way that made sense in her mind to put words to it was that she had just scaled the world's tallest mountain, and she was now basking in the absolute freedom that reaching the peak brought her.

"Jack."

He lifted his head, and the mix of concern, reverence, and desire she saw brought a slow smile to her face, the kind of smile someone has when they have achieved the thing that they wanted most.

"Are you sure 'm not dreaming?" he asked, resting his forehead against hers. She lifting her hips in response, undulating them against him, and earned a breathy curse.

"Fucking  _cheeky_ , you are," and then he withdrew, sliding back in slowly, carefully.

That first thrust, that first taste of the beautiful friction sent her back into an arch, a small moan accompanied by a shaky laugh emanating from her.

"I think... _oh_...I think you  _like_ me that way," she managed to get out as he thrust again.

"Aye, love, I do," he replied, latching onto her nipple, setting a steady rhythm with his hips. He grinned against her when she readjusted her legs, raising them a little higher, experimenting.

Then she heard a low rumble come from Jack's chest, a moan that vibrated against her breast, and she had the sudden fierce urge to stop this maddening slow pace.

" _Jack_ ," she protested, unable to think of anything to articulate what it is that she wanted.

He didn't say anything in response immediately, but he did snicker, the scoundrel.  _God_ , he felt incredible inside of her, and it was causing great difficulties with her ability to command her brain.

"Tell me what you need, darling," and she could hear that he was obviously torturing himself too through his sarcastic drawl.

"I need... _Jack, oh_ , I need... _more_."

She was babbling now, but finally, he seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. His thrusts picked up speed, hitting  _just_ that spot inside of her that made her entire body constrict tighter and tighter. Tugging him down so that his head rested against her neck, she clutched at his back with her hands, digging her nails in when he tried one sharp, hard thrust that ripped a cry from her throat.

" _More, more of, oh_ …"

He molded himself against her and took her, took everything she had, drew every inch of her body's focus to where he was burying himself into her core unrestrained, every stroke sending both of them spiraling out of control.

Something was building inside of her, something terrifying, something that made her claw at him and curse, words that she had never uttered spilling out of her, yet she so desperately wanted it that she started to thrust her hips against him.

"Lizzie,  _Lizzie_... _fuck…_ " she dimly heard him whispering hoarsely into her neck, responding with a keening cry, a sound that carried her desperation into the thick cool air of the jungle. Then the fire, the intoxicating inferno that took no mercy on her started to bloom outwards, rapidly, leaving her clinging to Jack for purchase against it.

But there was no fighting it because just then, Jack released her from her agony.

" _Come_ for me, Lizzie," he growled, latching onto the sweet spot of her neck, and then it was  _over_. Her core turned into a vice around him as she  _flew_ , away from anything and everything, screaming and crying out nonsense as her orgasm ripped through her body like an inflamed arrow, uncaring about whether she might die from it or not.

Jack joined her almost immediately after, his hips jerking into her spastically until he barely managed to withdraw before he was spending on her stomach, hissing her name in broken syllables.

It might have been weeks, months, years before either one of them had enough faculties to register reality, because they had no concept of time. The earth even was a relative place, blinking in and out of existence in the afterglow.

Jack used what little mental fortitude he had to keep enough of his weight off of her to avoid crushing her, but beyond that, the only thing he was capable of was heavy breathing where he had rested his forehead on her chest.

She was tangling her fingers in his hair without even realizing it, fascinated by how it felt in her bleary state of mind, not noticing that her lungs were in danger of expiring from the breath she was forcing in and out.

Eventually, she heard a murmured "I-I don't…" and then he gave up, shaking his head.

A giggle escaped from her at his struggle. She had made the great Captain Jack Sparrow speechless.

"We might want to um, wash off," she stated, looking down at the mess he had made dubiously.

"You wash off," he snarked.

" _Jack,_ at least roll over."

"No."

"I'm sorry?"

She stared at the top of his head, trying to be annoyed with him, and failing.

"'M fine right here. Stop talking."

" _Stop talking_? If you don't relocate yourself in the-"

Then he lifted his head, and the mischievousness of a thousand tricksters sparkled in his eyes.

"You are rather fun to rile up, love."

Her mouth dropped open in exasperation before she flopped her head back down on the sand. She didn't really mind having him on top of her after all, it was the  _puddle_  on her stomach that she wanted off. And have it off, she would.

Jack looked at her with a bothered expression for half a second when she started to get up.

"I'm getting back in the pool, provided I can make it there without falling over. I rather feel like I drank an entire bottle of rum too quickly, thanks to  _you_."

He was standing now, smirking at her with a shit-eating look on his face.

"Well, go on then. I'll watch you struggle."

She  _did_  struggle as she walked to the deeper end of the pool, her legs feeling like they had been transformed into gelatinous noodles. She was peering over the edge when suddenly she was launched forward, barely having a chance to register what happened before she hit the water.

Coming up gasping and treading water, she rounded on the culprit, who had both of his hands covering his face, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

"Sorry, Lizzie, I couldn't resist," he managed to say as he calmed down.

"I'm  _sure_. Well, are you going to join me, or not?"

"An offer to join Elizabeth Swann for a swim? There is no way I could pass that up."


	4. Heartbeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4! Hopefully everyone enjoys this one! ;)
> 
> Drop me a comment if you like it! :)

The gravity of what had just taken place hadn't sunk in yet for either of them as Lizzie rested her head against Jack's chest. They had found a raised bit of rock in the pool to sit on, enjoying the cool night breeze. They still had about three hours until daybreak.

She had never expected to feel as  _safe_  in a pirate's arms as she did in Jack's, with his steady heartbeat under her ear. She had never expected to be in Jack's arms to begin with because the divide between them just seemed too far.

He was softly stroking her hair, occasionally twirling a piece around his fingers. Once in a while he would lean down and kiss her head, and then do it again when she pushed her face into his chest to hide her grin. He liked to tease her too, his hands brushing across her breasts, then dancing away.

But even through all of it, part of him seemed far away, out of her reach.

"Was I careful enough?" he asked after they had relaxed in silence for twenty minutes give or take. She detected that he had been mulling over the question for quite some time.

"It wasn't terrible," she lied. It  _had_ hurt, and it was a pain that was entirely unique, but she wouldn't do anything differently for the world.

"Lizzie, you almost drew blood on my arms with your nails. Don't lie to me."

"Of course it  _hurt_ , Jack, but if you think that I would have preferred not doing it altogether, you are sorely mistaken."

He was quiet, as though he wasn't convinced.

"It'll be better next time," he said finally.

Was he…was he doubting himself?

She twisted around to look at him.

"What are you worried about?"

"Worried? 'M not worried about anything."

"I can't lie to you, so you can't lie to me either," she informed him with narrowed eyes. His were guarded when he glanced down at her. Why was he putting walls up now?

"This whole thing, it seems too easy, at least for me. There has to be a catch somewhere."

"A  _catch_? Don't start pulling away from me."

"Pulling away? Fine. I feel like I am walking a tightrope with you. One wrong move and you will slip through my fingers like sand. Maybe you will decide that...I don't know, that I was too selfish, or that William would provide a better future for you, or some other thing that would end  _this_ ," he snapped.

"Too selfish? What are you talking about?"

"I should have left you in the pool by yourself. I took advantage of you, and then I cared more about my enjoyment than-"

No. She covered his mouth with her hand, his beard scratching her palm, and waited until she was confident that he was going to stay quiet.

"Jack, you miserable lout. One, if I had wanted you to leave this pool I would have made it known. Two, if I had even a little bit of indecision about Will, I wouldn't  _be_   _in_  this damn pool with you. And three, I think that suggesting that you were not considerate is one of the most asinine things you have ever said."

"Well..."

"No, don't  _well_ me," she stopped, sighing in absolute frustration. "I couldn't have asked for better from you for the first time. I couldn't have asked for better from  _anyone_ for the first time."

The 'anyone' held an unspoken  _Will_ , but Jack chose not to comment on it. He stared out at the trees past her, his face difficult to read. She laid her head back down on his chest.

"You can question me and my motives all you want, but I promise you that not only do I not regret giving myself to you, there will not be a scenario in the future that will end  _this_ , bar one of us dying," she huffed.

His body was tense, and she subconsciously tried to unwind him by massaging his shoulder.

"Do you love me?"

Her face shot up to look at him in shock, not because of the question, but because of the suddenness of the question.

"Are you suggesting that I gave my virginity up to you because I had an  _itch_ to scratch?"

"No, I just think that you are...misguided," he muttered, his voice starting to turn angry.

The crystal clear realization came to her, and it was  _infuriating_.

"You...you don't think you deserve me."

One stony look from him confirmed it.

"A life with me is a life that is always on the move, running from something, someone, or somewhere."

"I know-"

"You will be in constant danger."

"Yes, I-"

" _I_  am always in constant danger."

"Obviously."

"What if-"

" _Jack_ , will you just listen to me for  _one_  second?"

He shut his mouth but continued glaring at her.

"Yes-" She paused, wrapping her head around the gravity of what she was about to say.

"Yes, I love you, dammit. And I'm  _not_  sorry for it."

"I just don't want any surprises-wait,  _what_   _did you say_?"

A mix of disbelief and hope lit his eyes up. She raised her head and kissed him, trying to communicate it with more than just words.

"I  _love_ you, Jack, damn the consequences. And maybe I will be in constant danger, and maybe I won't be able to settle down in a cottage on a hill, and maybe a hundred other things will happen, but none of that matters."

"But-"

" _Stop_!"

" _No_ , Elizabeth. You realize that my life is not guaranteed for tomorrow. I might die tomorrow. I might die the next day. What would you do then? And what if I do wrong by you somehow? Or what if you decide one day that I was a mistake, just a  _phase_ of yours?"

He paused, closing his eyes.

"I'm not a person who can promise you stability. I'm also not a person that commits easily. I need to have full confidence that the commitment isn't a waste of time because everyone else that allegedly cared for me in the past all left. How do I know that you won't do the same thing?"

She stared at him for a long time, at a loss for what to say.

"Are you telling me that you don't have faith in me?" she asked finally. Her head was turned away from him.

" _No,_ I just want you by my side so damn badly that everything that could go wrong seems like it  _will_ go wrong."

It was difficult for her to hide the tears that were collecting, and she couldn't even identify  _why_ they were there. Unfortunately, nothing got past him. He gently turned her face back to him, and then pulled her closer.

"Dammit, don't cry," he said into her hair.

Reigning in her emotions, she asked the question that had been taunting her, begging her to find out the answer, yet she was so  _terrified_  of the answer that she had run from it.

"Do  _you_ love  _me_?"

She had worried that he saw  _her_ as a passing fancy, or a conquest, or something that was  _below_  what she wanted him to feel for her. She worried that he would gather his wits and actually punish her for killing him. She had worried that she was investing too much emotion into something that was never going to come to fruition.

He watched her, his eyes softening at the badly hidden fear on her face.

"You thought I  _didn't_?" he breathed, looking as though a fist had been driven into his stomach.

"I thought you might just want to bed me, I thought that I was maybe a  _challenge_ to you. I didn't dare hope for anything more, both because it was too good to be true, and too terrifying to be true."

She recoiled at the sudden irritation he displayed. Sliding off of the rock to stand in the water in front of him, she took a deep shaky breath, waiting for him to say something.

"Do you think  _I_ would be here right now if I didn't? Do you really think I would have let you in as far as I have if I didn't?"

They stood, oblivious to the world for the tension that surrounded them.

"I want to hear you say it."

It was obvious that saying the actual words was the limit to how open he was going to get with her, but she  _needed_ to hear him say it. She needed to hear his beautiful voice say it, needed to hear his rich tones curl around the syllables.

Under the water, his hand gripped hers, and he pulled her back to him, guiding her back against the rock surface that they had started on. His lips touched hers, immediately deepening the kiss, igniting that familiar fire inside of her again. She explored his torso with her fingertips, tracing the scars she found.

When he pulled away, there was something different in his eyes. Something  _exposed_.

"You  _challenge_ me, Lizzie. You don't…you don't submit to me. You meet me on equal grounds. And you see me for what I am whether I want to show it to you or not. You  _killed_ me for fuck's sake, and yet you are still standing. You have insinuated yourself so deep into this"-he pointed at his heart-"that I couldn't dig you out if I tried."

It all came out in a rush, as though he had been holding it in for too long. He slid his arms around her, pinning her against the rock, the heat coming off of his body making her brain fuzzy.

"Don't think it doesn't make me damn uncomfortable, because it does, but I wouldn't change it, not for the world."

"Show me then," she whispered against his mouth.

He lifted her immediately, claiming her lips in a bruising kiss as he wrapped her legs around his waist, and she gasped when she felt his cock nudging at her entrance, barely having enough time to nod when he entered her, shifting her body up with the momentum of it, sliding in smoothly as though she was molded for him.

Any memory of their argument left her the second the wave of arousal flashed through her, the sudden flood of urgency from him exciting her.

" _God_ , Lizzie you're so bloody tight," he growled against her shoulder, withdrawing to fill her again, pushing her body up the rock wall. "It's maddening the way you feel around me."

He moved to withdraw again when she dug her fingers into his waist, holding him in place.

"...No,  _no,_  stay still for a moment. I want...I just want to feel you…"

His breathing was harsh and ragged when he reigned himself in, barely, his muscles trembling. When she tightened her channel around him, he groaned against her mouth, giving her light kisses. Angling her hips, she could feel every inch of him inside of her, hot and powerful.

"You think you want to tease me, hm?" he challenged, reaching down to rub her clit in slow circles.

She rested her head against the side of his, feeling his hot breath against her neck, reveling in the way his voice dropped into a husky passionate rumble when he was this  _close_ to her. A power overtook her in that moment, and she lightly shoved him back from her to glare at him with eyes that had darkened from their normal caramel color.

"I think you  _like_ to be teased."

A sharp thrust that drug her body against the stone had her tilting her head back, gasping. He pressed his hands against her breasts, pushing them up, massaging them.

"And I think I want to  _fuck_ you until you don't even remember your own name," and his thumb pushed against her nub, then rubbed it at a furious pace, delighting in the way her mouth parted at his heated words. Her body seized, the knot in her stomach tightening. God, how she wanted him to take her without restraining himself. She wanted to feel the power of him driving into her, wanted to see the lust overtake his face, to see his dark eyes glittering with the satisfaction of giving her pleasure.

"Would you like that, darling?" he purred against the nipple that was currently being assaulted by his tongue.

" _Yes, Jack, pl-_ "

And then her speech was cut off when he gripped her hips and slammed himself into her, ripping a cry from her throat, water rippling around them. His body created sweet friction everywhere against hers when he kept going with sharp, hard thrusts, whispering things that burned her ears, taking her higher and higher.

Then she just about  _cried_ when he slowed down his hips to a crawl, lazily sliding into her wet heat.

"Do you feel this?" he asked, placing her hand on his chest just above his heart. It was making her hand vibrate with how fast it was racing, sending thrills through her.

"And do you feel this?" he asked again, rolling his hips.

She nodded, a whispered "yes" choking its way out of her throat.

"That is what you bloody do to me, love. You undo me,  _possess_  me, until I can barely think straight with the need to be inside of you. But more than that, you make me want to  _live_."

He caressed her lips with his, taking her mouth tenderly, then breaking away, but only barely.

"And I don't just want to fuck you, I want to make love to you, I  _want_ to let you in, I want to give you every damn thing that I can."

She could tell by the fire in his eyes that a war was going on inside of him, one part was trying to resist showing her everything, and one part had absolutely no filter, reservations having no meaning to it. She thrust against him, reminding him how desperate she was to reach that peak again.

He obliged her, taking one of her hands and pressing it behind her, threading it with his own, every driving thrust making her back slide up the rock.

From the proximity of his body to her, the way he kept eye contact with her, to the damn possession he had over her, and the power she held over him,  _nothing_  could compare to making love to him.

Nothing could compare to how her orgasm flooded her in blinding waves, making her crush his hand in her own, her core milking him of his own release as he claimed her lips, pressing his body to hers tightly, spilling himself inside of her with a deep groan that sent goosebumps prickling at her skin.

They held each other afterward, both of them breathing harshly. Jack was softly stroking the backs of her thighs with his palms where he was supporting her, unwilling to withdraw from her yet.

"I  _do_ , I  _love_  you, Lizzie, and it fucking  _terrifies_  me," he said quietly into her neck, once his breathing was under control. "It scares me more than anything."

She knew why, she knew that he had always preferred locking his heart up against anyone, only letting them see the surface of him, only letting them in far enough so that when they parted, nothing was lost. Being the person that he accepted, that he embraced, was the most daunting prospect that she had ever experienced. And as she clutched at his back with trembling hands, hearing him say that he loved her in a voice that left her no doubt that he was telling the truth, she wouldn't let him go, wouldn't let him down for the world.

"I love you too, Jack," she replied as quietly as he had.

She almost cried again at the look he had on his face when he pulled back to stare at her. Then, a tear did roll down her cheek when she realized that he still hadn't believed her before, the other two times she had said it. But now, he had no reason to doubt her, had no reason to doubt himself, and he looked at her with an expression of pure emotion.

Picking her up, he carried her around to a spot behind the pool where they could lay on the ground undisturbed, without fear of being discovered, at least for a little while.

She settled her head into his shoulder, hooking one leg around his waist, draping her arm across his chest, and gave him a soft kiss at the bottom of his neck.

"I love you," she said again, wanting to hear herself say it again, wanting to feel that indescribable warmth that flowed through her every time her mind reminded her that he was  _hers_ , that he had chosen her. Slowly, her eyes began to droop, and she let sleep take her, snuggling against Jack's warm frame.


	5. Sunrise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Chapter 5! Hope everyone likes this one! :)

The sun was coming up, the warm glow of orange just starting to bleed into the ever-lightening sky as it peeked over the horizon. Sunrises were beautiful, promising something new, something that might whet the curiosity, or stoke the fire of excitement, a song of life dancing throughout the light breeze that blew her long blonde hair about her bare shoulders. The warmth of the day was just starting to wash over her face.

Sounds, all of them crystal clear to her in her serenity, floated through her, around her, the sound of the waterfall in the pool, the chirps and squeaks, screeches and whistles, and the flowing of branches and trees. In the distance, she could hear the waves crashing against the shore.

It was a wonderful thing, feeling this  _free_ , this  _light_ , as though she had been living in a cage before now, living in a shadow that repressed the joy that she had the capacity to feel. In just a few hours, just a few fleeting moments, she had shed that skin, that skin of propriety, the expectations that everyone had of her, the way  _they_ thought that she ought to be.

She could still feel the heat that washed over her skin at his touch, the sensual timbre of his voice as he whispered sweet things in her ear, the life that he breathed into her when he kissed her, and the indescribable fulfillment, the wholeness that still lingered, at having him inside of her,  _finally_.

Seeing the emotion in his dark eyes, seeing him open to her, showing her everything, every layer that he had kept hidden away, knowing that it was  _her_  that he was choosing, made the warmth in her chest increase tenfold, traveling up to her lips so that a slow content smile spread across her face.

Even after she had committed such an atrocity against him, even after she had told him she wasn't sorry for it, such a grand lie that it was a wonder that he didn't know it, he still wanted her, still hoped that she wanted him. He still loved her,  _had_ loved her, and would continue to love her, she knew, until he no longer drew breath.

It was a wonder that such a complex man, dark and hardened from things that her still-inexperienced eyes had never seen, was allowed to return to that place of purity, that place of freedom, because of her. It was a wonder of what she had done to deserve that, to deserve him. Though, he had told her that he didn't understand what he had done to deserve her either.

And he had been so bloody careful when he had first taken her, so absolutely wonderful that she couldn't help but revisit that exact moment over and over again, the perfect dizzying transcendence, so intense that she had to fight back tears of happiness every time she pictured the look on his face when he had raised his head from where it had been nuzzled into her neck.

' _It doesn't hurt anymore.'_

He had stared down at her, with her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms circled around his back, as though he couldn't quite allow himself to believe that she was really there with him, allowing him to do such things to her as to take her virginity. The next second, the sweetest smile, just a small one, had twitched at his lips, just before he had started their dance of pleasure, one that would take her to heights that she had never felt before.

If she would have known it was going to be like that, like falling into a pit of fire and blinding light willingly, she might have given into her primal urge to let Jack take her against the mast of his ship, shackles forgotten, the Kraken,  _forgotten_.

And  _then_ , he had made love to her again, against the rock, his body pinning hers with such a closeness that it had made her forget the need to breathe, since chanting his name in breathless whispers was all she could do.

_Made love. With Jack._

He had told her that he loved her, had told her those three words, those three precious words that a regular man might find themselves a bit squeamish saying, but  _Jack_ , a man so guarded that she had sometimes doubted that he even had inner layers, had said them in such a way that left her  _no doubt_ that he had meant them with every fibre of his being.

She brought her fingers to her lips, tracing them, memorizing the feel of his against them, lest she someday lose the opportunity to remind herself. Then another reminder, one of how safe she felt in his arms, was generously given to her when said arms encircled her from behind, his face nuzzling at her neck.

"You know, as much as I like you without a stitch of clothing on, you had best get dressed. I don't much fancy my ship leaving without us."

Just the sound of his voice, the delicious velvet-like texture of it, sent her heart racing again, very much considering denying his request for her to clothe herself, requesting instead that they revisit the pool.

As though he sensed her thought process, he tamed the growing fire in her,  _for now_.

" _Later_ , Lizzie. I'm yours once we're back in my cabin."

_Hers_.

Taking a deep shuddering breath as though waiting was a major inconvenience, she turned around to look at him, finding a sparkle in his eyes that made a giggle spill out of her.

"You don't even have your shirt on yet," she exclaimed, swatting him in the shoulder. He looked down at himself with an expression of faux confusion.

" _Wow,_ you're right, I don't," he said in a tone dripping with sarcasm, and then made a show of looking around, his finger tapping his mouth. "I wonder where it could've possibly gone."

She knew where it was. It was behind them, a few feet, and when she realized that he meant to have her go and get it for him just so he could  _enjoy the view_ for a moment longer, she scowled at him, before descending into another lapse of giggles.

"Fine, your  _majesty_ , I will be so kind as to fetch it. Do try not to stare though."

"Stare? Who said anything about staring?" he asked as he watched her trudge over to where the off-white garment lay, gathering her clothes as well.

" _Here_ ," she said, shoving the shirt at him, scowling again at the devilish smirk on his face. He distracted her a moment later when she caught how the wiry muscles rippled as he raised his arms to pull it over his head.

Was it always going to be like that? Was she always going to be distracted by watching him perform mundane tasks?

Who was she kidding? It  _had_  always been like that. On the voyage to Isla Cruces, she had caught herself staring at his hands when they were wrapped around the wheel of the  _Pearl_. Her attention had been stolen numerous times by the many activities that his lips engaged in, whether he was biting them in frustration, pushing them out a bit in curiosity or confusion, and  _any_ sight of his tongue had made her legs just a bit wobbly. She also liked to examine the various trinkets in his hair from afar, wondering what kind of noises they would make when he…

It was true, almost every thought she had about him had led to sex during that voyage, especially when it involved her being fixated on any part of his body. She wondered what kind of pleasure his mouth could bring her, whether it was attached to her mouth, or  _other_ places, she wondered how much fire he could draw from within her by touching her skin with his beautiful hands, and of course she had wondered how he would feel inside her more times than she could count, each time crystallizing into a sharp need to take solace inside her little cabin, her hand shoved into her pants in a whirling need for release. But it had never been enough. That sweet moment of relief had only made the longing burn brighter each time.

The amount of times that she had considered just marching into his cabin ought to make her feel a little ashamed, but she just couldn't bring that emotion forth.

Well, now she no longer had to fantasize, at least.

She busied herself with pulling her clothes on, already impatient for later,  _in his cabin_.

Following the timeline of the immediate future, an unpleasant reminder reared its head.

_She needed to talk to Will._

Wandering over to where she spied Jack's hat hanging off of a tree branch, she snatched it off and hid it behind her back, trying to distract herself from imagining  _that_ conversation.

Jack had his coat, and all of the various belts and sashes that he wore back on, looking like the consummate pirate captain that he was, fierce and predatory.

" _Where in the bloody fuck is my-_ "

His swearing made her snicker, and she laughed harder at his antics when he looked up at her with an accusatory glare.

"Now, just because I have professed my undying love for you doesn't mean that you can bloody take my  _hat_ -"

He was stalking towards her as he said it, and the second he reached her, she cut him off with a kiss, tugging him against her as though she hadn't seen him in a very long time. A tingle rushed through her when he melted against her, running his hands along her neck to tangle in her hair, pushing her closer, deepening the kiss.

From behind her back, she raised his precious hat, and fixed it onto his head, just as he broke away, his lips curling into a satisfied smile.

Somehow, she knew that they were  _both_ reminiscing about the exact same memory when they had first met, when he had so skillfully manipulated her into re-arming him with his effects.

' _Easy on the goods darling.'_

' _You're despicable.'_

She still remembered the heat in his eyes, even that first time, and she wondered if he had considered making a stop into her bedroom had he actually escaped from Norrington's men, and she was not entirely sure that she would have stopped him.

"Seems so long ago, doesn't it?"

"Mhm, and yet here we are, almost in the exact same position," he said, kissing her forehead. "Let's go, darling. If you want to keep it a secret until you break the news to him, that's fine with me. I'll go," he paused to point somewhere behind her, "that way, and you go a different way."

She nodded, pulling away from him reluctantly.

"I'll see you on the ship, I suppose."


	6. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6! :) Drop me a review, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! :)

She sat on the steps of the  _Pearl_ , trying to focus on the gentle rocking of the ship, and the salty smell of the sea, long losing the feel of the hardwood underneath her, as her body was numb with nerves.

Occasionally she would crane her neck, or twist around to try and catch glimpses of Jack, hoping he would give her some modicum of reassurance, but the most she got was a few fleeting moments of eye contact, where his gaze would soften for a split second, transforming from his normal steely 'captain' countenance to that special warmth reserved only for her.

"How long are you going to sit there?"

A crick in her neck made her wince when she looked around to find the object of her nerves, her hand shooting up to rub at it. Will was standing over her, staring at her as though she was a degenerate.

"It hasn't been that long."

He looked down at her with a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

"You've been sitting there for four hours, Elizabeth."

_Had it been four hours?_

She might say that she had noticed, but the overwhelming whirring of her thoughts had made time a flimsy thing ever since she had boarded the  _Pearl_ , flashes of doubt and then a fierce surge of anger at having doubt, snippets of her and Will playing on the shore as children, and the knowledge that she was going to make him revisit all of that, question everything.

"I guess I have."

"Care to tell me what you're thinking about?"

He asked her the question as though it was his right to know, as though he expected that she knew that it was his right to know, and the hidden accusatory tone to his voice was hard to miss.

"Nothing, really. I'm  _fine,_ Will."

" _Why_ are you hiding things from me? In case you have forgotten, I am your fiance."

"Will-"

"You have been distant with me the entire voyage to rescue Jack."

It wasn't something she could even begin to deny. But she was going to deny the concrete fact of being his fiance. Ever since their wedding had been interrupted, it was as though they had morphed into two very different people, although she suspected that she was just who she had been all along, but Will, he was colder, harsh, as though something had sapped any happiness that he might have had away.

"Maybe I have."

He drew back, and she realized that he was looking for her to admit to something, or to a few somethings. He was looking for some relief of his own.

"Why? Were you pining for lost love?"

" _Excuse me_?"

That came out of her mouth a split second before it occurred to her that everything he was about to accuse her of was probably true.

"You think I didn't notice? The way you were always staring out at the sea, the dead expression in your eyes. It was as though a part of you died with him."

"He is our  _friend_ , Will. I was sad about losing a  _friend_."

He clenched his fists against his breeches for a second, and she almost thought that he was going to walk away.

"Can we talk below deck?"

Considering that option, she decided that she would rather them shout at each other out of earshot of everything else. Rising from the stairs, she stepped around Will, and found Jack adjusting some rope or other. He stopped when he saw her, worry flashing in his eyes almost too quickly for her to catch.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked as he stalked over, looking between the two of them.

" _No_ , there isn't. Will and I are going to have a conversation below deck, that's all."

Jack studied her face for a moment longer than necessary for just being a captain concerned about the going-on aboard his ship, and she tried to communicate to him that it was alright through a very slight inclination of her head.

At least,  _she hoped_ that it would be alright.

* * *

She took a seat on a barrel, while he refused to do the same. When he didn't say anything to her, she shrugged, choosing to break the silence herself.

"What?"

"What were you doing in the jungle?"

"In the jungle? I told you, I was looking for a place to  _bathe_."

"And did you find one?"

"Yes, I bloody found one. Does it matter?"

"Did you find one with Jack?"

Ah. She wasn't even sure why she was still trying to deny the obvious, trying to delay the inevitable confession. Surely it wasn't because she couldn't bear to break Will's heart because she had already effectively done that. Surely it wasn't because she was ashamed of the truth because there was not an ounce of her body or mind that was ashamed of Jack.

"What  _exactly are you insinuating_?"

"Oh come off it Elizabeth, I bloody saw you kiss the man."

Oh.  _Oh._

Christ. Now she had two things to confess to, and she couldn't decide which one was more daunting.

"Will...that was a trick, a cheap trick-"

"A  _trick?_ What are you talking about?"

" _I_ chained Jack to the mast of the ship. Is that what you wanted to hear? It was  _me_ , I did it. I sent him to his death. That kiss was nothing more than the means to get him there."

Something twisted in her when he didn't seem as bothered as he should have. Did he really care more about where her heart lies rather than how much darkness was now in her soul?

" _You_ killed Jack?"

"The Kraken was coming after him,  _only him_ , and-"

She paused, trying to ignore the thickening of her throat, the sting of tears creeping into her eyes, but there was nothing for it. Just speaking about what she had done to the man she loved still brought her a sharp acute pain that she desperately wished away.

"And you have spent the last month wallowing in guilt over it, have you? That is the reason for you not even remotely resembling the woman I loved?"

The woman he _loved…_

" _Yes_ , because like I already said, he was a  _friend_."

"Don't try to lie to me, Elizabeth. That kiss was far more than a one-sided trick. You have never kissed me like that, with such...with such... _passion_."

"So  _what_?"

"So what?" he shouted, thumping his fist down on the barrel next to him. "You're bloody fucking in love with the man and you are too cowardly to admit it to me."

Rage distorted the warm color of his eyes, making them ugly as they glared at her with a fire that she had never seen in him.

"How dare you accuse me of-"

"Of what? The truth?  _What did you do in that jungle, Elizabeth_?"

" _Nothing!"_ she shouted back, letting the tears flow freely now, though whether they were for Will or for herself, she wasn't sure.

"You can't even admit it to me."

Something snapped in her, something that had been tethered to the last hope that she could stop fighting with him, make him see reason. She slid off of the barrel and stepped up to him to look him directly in the eye.

"You want to know what I did?"

"So help me, if you tell me that you-"

"I  _fucked_ him. I gave myself to him, and there wasn't a bone in my body that didn't enjoy-"

Her head snapped to the right when his palm connected with her cheek.

The sound of it rang through the hold, the sharp sound of stinging flesh, and she looked back at him slowly, eyes wide with horror and shock.

"You are a damn tart, a _whore_ for….how could you, how could you give yourself to a man that doesn't even  _care_  for you, never mind  _love_  you?"

Each word he called her stabbed at her, tearing at her heart. Who was this man?

"How  _dare you_  suggest that Jack doesn't love me! I would say he cares for me a damn sight more than you do at the moment!"

"You're not  _worth_ caring about. You threw everything we had away, all the history, all of the-"

He stopped, the words becoming garbled in his throat.

"I was your fucking  _fiance_ , due to be married to you. I  _loved_ you, more than anything, and then I find out that you are  _nothing_ like the woman I thought you were. The Elizabeth that I asked to marry me would never give her virginity to a disgusting  _pirate_."

That was the crux of it, really.  _The woman he thought he knew_. Will had never really known her, had never really  _seen_ her for what she was, a wild free thing, always seeking something, always searching,  _yearning_ for something, like the ocean.

"You never really knew me," she said in a dark tone, running her fingers over where he had slapped her.

"I am beginning to see that now. Add that to your list of transgressions against me."

"The  _only_ thing, the only  _sin_ I will admit to committing against you is infidelity, and I even admit to that lightly."

"Lightly? What, did you think we were no longer together?"

"We  _were never together_! Maybe in the expectations sense, we both expected to marry each other, we both  _thought_ that we loved each other, but evidently, we only loved the person that we thought the other  _was_."

"And what did you think I was?"

"I  _don't_ know, Will, but I know who you are now. You are a coward who would strike a woman out of anger when her  _captain_ is standing just above deck. What do you suppose Jack will do when I tell him?"

Satisfaction flowed through her when the tiniest sliver of fear appeared in his eyes before it was washed away, replaced by a stubborn refusal to back down.

" _Go ahead_ , go tell him. Tell him that he is welcome to you, a  _whore_ is the only woman that should be able to bed a pirate anyways. Get  _out of my sight_."

She went gladly, streaking up the stairs, onto the main deck, eyes searching for Jack.

* * *

He wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere.

The panic, wherever it was coming from, shocked her into shouting for Gibbs, who came running over to her as soon as he saw how pale her face was, and the angry red mark on her skin.

"What's wrong Miss Elizabeth?"

She looked behind her, half expecting Will to charge up the stairs to keep shouting at her, to tell the entire ship how awful he thought she was, but he didn't.

"What happened to your face?"

Gibbs was staring at her cheek with concern, a kind of fatherly concern that made some semblance of comfort return to her.

"Um..Will, he...where's Jack?"

Anger washed over the older man's face as he put two and two together.

"That stupid idiot boy. Jack is in his cabin. Go, report it to him. All injury must be reported to the captain. It's the rules."

But she could tell that Gibbs didn't want her to tell Jack because of  _rules_. He wanted Will to be punished, and both of them knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that  _Jack_ was not going to be pleased.


	7. The Code

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7! Hope everyone enjoys! :)

The door squeaked just a little as she slipped quietly into his cabin. Her face was thankfully hidden by the shadows of the room, but she still turned to face away from Jack, unsure about his reaction. This was new territory for them.

Jack's voice cut across the silence of the room, sounding more sober than usual.

"Well, how did the lad take it?"

She wasn't even sure of the answer to that question. Will had called her things, had said things to her that she could have never imagined him saying. Young sweet Will, the little boy she had rescued from the shipwreck so long ago, the little boy that she had played pretend pirate with, had named her a  _whore_ , had shaken himself of her like she was a troublesome maggot, unworthy of his presence.

Then he had  _struck_ her, and it was in that moment, that terrifying moment,  _everything_ changed. He was an entirely different person now, one that she couldn't recognize.

 _Were things changed_ , or just  _revealed?_

Her eyes started to sting with fresh tears, the residual pounding in her head intensifying, as she shook her head, silently telling Jack that Will did  _not_  take kindly to her confession.

Resting her forehead against the door, she let her eyelids slip closed and blocked out the world for just a moment. She had wanted to tell him, maybe apologize to him, make him  _understand_ that she wasn't trying to hurt him. His suspicions must have been festering for some time, ever since that kiss, maybe even before that. With the weight of his father being trapped on the Dutchman, and their wedding being interrupted, the reveal of where her heart truly lied must have finally broken him.

But that  _didn't_ excuse him for the way he acted towards her.

"Lizzie?"

The immediate concern in Jack's voice reminded her of exactly how intelligent he was, and how he could surmise that something had gone terribly wrong without her saying anything to him.

When she still didn't respond to him, the tears spilling onto her cheeks now, burning a hot trail down her skin, she heard his chair being pushed back, heard the trinkets in his hair clinking together. Her heart started to pound, but she couldn't fathom why for the life of her. She had nothing to be  _nervous_ about when it came to Jack.

She let him tug her away from the door, let him turn her around, feeling like the world was right again for one precious moment when she was enveloped in the warmth of his arms. His shirt was soft against her skin as he gently pushed her face into his chest, and it was there that she finally allowed herself to cry.

 _Not_ because of Jack, or this new joy in her life, because she still found no shame in it, but because of the treacherous and destructive path she had taken to get there.

Eventually, her tears petered out, becoming occasional snuffles. But she was still reluctant to raise her head. Unfortunately, Jack was far too perceptive for his own good. He shifted his shoulder, nudging her head away, and then his clever fingers hooked under her chin, tilting her face up.

She couldn't look him in the eye, and she realized that she thought he was going to be  _angry_ with  _her_  because of what Will had done. Immediately after the thought entered her brain, she felt absolutely ashamed of herself for even having the notion.

"Lizzie, what's the-"

His words were cut off at the same exact moment that he turned her face so that her cheek was facing him, the light from the lantern on his desk illuminating the evidence of Will's anger.

There were a great many reactions that she had expected from him, but they had all involved his wrath being unleashed immediately. She had  _not_ expected him to reign that in, bury it until he had the go-ahead from her to take any kind of action. And she nearly started tearing up again when he bent his head to place a tender kiss on the mark that tarnished her normally smooth complexion.

"I...I told him about the pool, about what we did. We were shouting back and forth and I just got sick of it, and well, he did  _that_."

He was quiet for a moment, his left hand playing with the hair that was hanging down her back, his right hand placed on her shoulder.

"I'm...  _dammit,_ I'm sorry, love. Even I didn't expect that out of him. I should've been there."

"It's over and done with. I-"

" _No,_ Lizzie, it's  _not_ ," he said, barely contained anger simmering within his eyes. "Do you really think that  _I_ am going to just let him hit you and get away with it? As the damn captain of this ship, I punish crimes accordingly. Laying a hand on you is right at the top of the list of things that will result in...punishment."

His steely resolve left no room for argument, not that she wanted to argue with him anyway.

"...what are you going to do?"

He sighed, taking her face in his hands.

"If it were up to me, I would kill him, feed him to the sharks, hang him from the mast, bloody  _keelhaul_  him, but it's  _not_ up to me. So the question is, what do  _you_ want me to do?"

Was she angry with Will because of what he had done?  _Yes_.

Did any semblance of love that she may have held for him remain?  _No_.

"Don't kill him,  _please_ don't kill him. But…"

Her voice trailed off as her mind became jumbled, going around and around in circles.

"...What...what's the normal punishment for such a crime aboard a ship?"

He released her and crossed the room to his desk, looking through his various papers and trinkets that littered it. Eventually, he found what he was looking for, a single sheet of paper, with what looked like his handwriting on it when he gave it to her.

"There isn't actually a punishment described in the codex for it, but Captain John Phillips, of the  _Revenge_ , chose 40 lashes, called Moses' Law, for striking another person on board."

Indeed, the fifth item on the list called for 40 lashes to any man that struck another man.

"Don't give him 40, he doesn't deserve that many."

" _Lizzie_ …"

She didn't say anything right away, not because she didn't have anything to say, but because the prospect of naming a punishment for another person was a rather large commitment.

"...Give him 25, and if he repeats the crime, we'll maroon him."

The words came out evenly, without any shakiness or uncertainty. Even she knew that this was just the way aboard a pirate ship, and Will being who he was could not save him in the face of the law. Jack studied her face, thinking about her proposition before nodded once at her.

"There is also…," he began, before stopping to search her face. "There is also a general consensus that everyone aboard the ship witnesses the carrying out of the punishment, but I will spare you that if you like."

If she wanted this life, she had a keen idea of exactly how many uncomfortable situations lie ahead of her, ones that would stain her soul, leave black tarnishes in her mind that would keep her from sleeping peacefully at night. But she couldn't be a coward, couldn't hide in the captain's cabin.

" _No_ , I am a part of this crew."

"Alright then, love. Go out there and tell Gibbs to bring Will on deck."

* * *

It had started to rain, the black wood of the  _Pearl_  shimmering like onyx. When she walked out onto the deck, Gibbs immediately rushed over to her.

"What are his orders?"

"He said to go and get him, bring him up here."

Trepidation crossed the older man's face.

"What is to be his punishment?"

"25 lashes," came from behind her as Jack stepped out, his face colder than she had ever seen it. His jaw was clenched, his lips set together in a firm line. The rain started to come down harder, in sheets, and now lightning was joining the fray, illuminating the darkness in his eyes with every flash.

* * *

She stood next to the mast now, hair wet and hanging in ropes, wiping the rain out of her eyes every few seconds. Gibbs stood next to her, glancing at her, checking on her, she surmised. But she was ready to face this baptism by fire, couldn't look away if she tried.

Her mind tried telling her that this whole thing was ridiculous, that it was just a moment of anger, that he was still a man that she had loved, but when she looked at his face, at the void of anything besides bitterness, she knew that somewhere along the way, Will had died, transitioning into something beyond her.

And she knew that this was justified, that  _this_ new man, this man made up of anger and obsession, needed to be put in his place.

He was on his knees, his wrists shackled behind him, his clothes stuck to him from the rain.

Jack, or Captain Sparrow as he was more appropriately called in that moment, stood before him, looking down at him as though he was trying to mentally set him on fire.

When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but it held such a power of authority that it left her no wonder as to how he had kept the title of captain over the years.

"As you  _all_  know, any crime carried out on this ship will be dealt with accordingly, with the appropriate punishment set out by the Code.

"However,  _his_ particular crime has no stated punishment in Morgan and Bartholomew's Code, so we have resorted to another."

He turned to address the rest of the crew.

"Do you all see Elizabeth as part of this crew just like any of you?"

There was a collection of nods, some more enthusiastic than others.

"And would you all consider her to be under the collective protection of all of us?"

More nods. Ragetti spoke up, all of the attention directed towards him for a moment.

"Some of us, well, we have inferred that she is under the direct protection of  _you_."

Jack inclined his head ever so slightly at the man, before turning to look at Will again.

"Aye, she is. Which brings me to exactly how incomprehensibly  _stupid_  a person has to be to lay a hand on her."

Gasps and whispers floated up from the crew, as they stared at Will in shock.

"Mr. Gibbs, is striking a member of the crew under the list of offenses in Captain Bartholomew Robert's code?"

"Aye Cap'n."

"Right, but as I mentioned before, that code does not name a punishment. Miss Swann, what is the punishment that we have agreed upon?"

She looked up at him in surprise, not expecting to be called upon to speak. Taking a deep breath, she answered the question.

"Captain John Phillips, of the  _Revenge_ , instilled Moses' Law, a total of 40 lashes on the back, for the offense. But due to the sensitive nature of the situation, the captain and I have agreed upon 25 lashes, and if the crime is repeated in  _any_ capacity, there will be a marooning."

"Exactly," he said, glaring down at Will, and then kneeling to look him directly in the eye. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

They all waited with bated breath to find out what it  _was_ that Will could possibly say to defend hitting her.

"You  _stole_ her from me," finally came out, months of pent up jealousy laced into the words.

"Ahh, so you are calling your crime a crime of passion, then." He stood up, brandishing his hand at Will. "Let it be known that William Turner feels that striking a woman because she has decided that she loves another is the appropriate response," he added with sarcastic grandiosity.

"She didn't  _decide_ that she loved another, she never loved me to begin with! It was all a lie."

"I don't bloody care if she loved every fucking person on this ship besides you," Jack snapped, his voice cutting through the air like a sword. "You will  _not_ touch her again, and if I have my way, once we make port, you will never lay eyes on her again either."

He paused.

"You know, your father did a great many things that I considered to be idiotic, but hurting a woman is one thing that he was incapable of doing. Apparently, you have less in common with him than I thought."

"Don't you  _dare_ talk about my father. He is on the Dutchman because of  _you_."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "And how do you figure that?"

"You were marooned because of your inability to captain a ship. My father changed sides at the last second. It's your fault. Had you kept the information about Isla de Muerta from Barbossa, my father would still be here."

"That may be true, but if your father wouldn't have run away from you and your mother, he would have never been on my ship. So, who's fault is it really?"

"I still say you are the reason that Elizabeth betrayed me."

Jack turned to look at him with his lip curled up in disgust.

"Then why didn't you hit me instead of her?"

"She was too cowardly to admit it to me! She tried to lie about it, and then finally instead of apologizing to me, she told me that she fucked you in the jungle, like the  _whore_ she-"

Will's words died in his throat with a wheezing breath of strangled air when Jack immediately knelt, grabbing Will by the back of his head, digging his pistol into the skin just above his ear.

"Say it again. Say it one more time, and I don't care which punishment has been agreed upon for you, I will end your miserable life right here."

The icy calmness of his voice made the crew shudder, as it somehow sounded more dangerous than it would be had he shouted it.

When Jack was satisfied that Will understood, he stood and stepped away from him.

"Mr. Gibbs, give him 25 lashes, and when you are finished, throw him in the brig. Leave him there for three days."

Gibbs nodded, and Jack stalked back inside his cabin, pausing to twitch his head at her, and she realized that he meant for her to follow him.


	8. Cabin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8! Hope you all...enjoy this one! ;)

She sat on Jack's bed, staring at her knees, trying to process everything that had just happened. It felt like she had crossed an entire sea of change in her life within a few hours, the jarring feeling eating away at her, her mind unable to make sense of it.

The only thing that did make sense was the man sitting at the desk a few feet away, the candlelight sharpening the angles of his face, dancing in his ebony eyes, saturating the trinkets and beads in his hair, making them glow and glitter. His lips were set together firmly, the beautiful lips that could do so many things to her, caress her own with the most tender of touches, bring her blinding pleasure when they ventured to her most intimate areas. His jaw was tight, his eyes hard, stony with still simmering anger, narrowed with the presence of a thousand fractured thoughts and ruminations that were clearly running through his mind.

He hadn't looked this serious, this  _sober_ , for a long time. In fact, the last time that she had seen him like this was in the cave on Isla de Muerta, just after he had shot Barbossa.

The idea of trying to say something to him had nearly come to fruition several times, but she wasn't sure if he wanted to talk at that moment, wasn't sure what he wanted to do at all. Her temples hurt, a dull throbbing, the evidence of overwhelming emotion threatening to spill to the surface with the slightest prodding.

Finally, she decided that instead of sitting there in silence, guessing, it might be easier to just  _ask him_.

"What...what are you thinking about?"

His eyes slowly slid over to her, as though he had been waiting for her, waiting for her to say something.

"...Too many things, love."

"Oh. Do you want me to...do you want me to go?"

A strange expression came over his face, as though he wasn't sure if he had heard her right, and then his eyes softened, shedding the shield that he had put around himself.

"Go? No, 'course not. Just have questions, a lot of thoughts, up here," he paused to tap his head, "and 'm not sure how to go about finding the answers."

"What kind of questions?"

He pushed his chair back, standing up to walk across the room to sit next to her, immediately heaving a tired sigh.

"It might be better if we forget I had questions at all, actually."

"...Why?"

His hand came up to cover his face for a moment.

"Because the second I ask them, you are going to think I am daft for even having them in the first place."

She realized in that moment what it was that he was worried about, and felt silly for not seeing the obvious earlier. Scooting closer to him, she turned his face to look at her with a gentle nudge of her hand.

"I  _don't_ regret you, Jack. There is nothing I would do differently,  _nothing_ I would change. Every choice I made ended up leading me to you, and you are the best thing that has happened to me...well,  _ever_."

Surprise entered his eyes just before they broke contact with hers.

"Didn't realize I had my thoughts written on my face, love."

"I'm in love with you. It's my job to try and understand what is going on in that complicated head of yours."

The corner of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile, and the last remnants of anger retreated, but his face grew serious once more anyway.

"You know I would never hurt you, right?"

' _Like Will'_  were the unspoken words, hanging in the air between them.

" _Yes_. Well, except when you need to escape the rifles of the Royal Navy and a jealous commodore. Then it's acceptable."

He looked mildly guilty, just before smirking again.

"Don't pretend that you didn't enjoy the moment that we had."

"Can't say I like having a pistol pointed at my head, but other than that, it was rather...exciting."

"Exciting? You were looking at me like you wanted to take all of my clothes  _off_ , instead of putting things back on."

She scooted back against the wall, stretching out her legs in front of her, while he shifted to sit cross legged by her feet, stripping himself of his coat at the same time, dropping it over the side of the bed.

"I...may have fantasized about what you looked like without clothes once or twice."

No blush came, no embarrassment. There was no reason to be embarrassed anymore.

"Since that? Or…"

Well, maybe once in awhile…

"That night, my maid suggested that I had been terrified of you, or that I should have been, anyway. But all I could think about was what your wet skin looked like under your clothes. I even had the crazy idea to go down to the gallows to..well, what I planned on doing once I got there, I don't know…"

"Could have let me out, wouldn't have minded that. And if you entertained the idea of me sans clothes, then stumbling upon me at the pool really must have been your dream come true, hm?"

She laughed at that, a genuine laugh, musical as it filled the room.

"I can't say that I had been prepared for it. I thought that I might see you in stages, you know, without a shirt, or something, but all at once... _god,_ I actually felt quite faint."

"Truth be told, I honestly thought for a second once I realized that it was you that I had fallen asleep. It occurred to me in the next second that I would have fallen off of the rock that I was standing on if I had."

"Ha, and to answer your question, not only did I fantasize about you since our first encounter, it only increased to nearly unbearable levels when I was stuck on a ship with you for two weeks. You already know that I had to take solace in my cabin frequently to...find relief."

His eyes glittered at her from across the bed, and her heart fluttered from the mischief in them.

"Care to elaborate, love?" he purred, gently spreading her legs to situate himself between them, still sitting.

"Elaborate on what?"

"What  _exactly_ did you think about?"

Oh god, nevermind not needing to blush. Not necessarily from embarrassment, but from  _excitement_.

"The...um, the first day I was aboard, I happened to catch a glimpse of your hands sort of...stroking the wheel of the  _Pearl_. And, I became rather... _fixated_ on them after that."

Did he expect her to tell him  _everything?_

With one slow raise of his eyebrow, she had her answer. And she found that she  _wanted_ him to know.

"I thought about...whether they would be rough or soft against my skin. I pictured them being tangled in my hair. I pictured them...curved around my breasts...and…"

His hands were suddenly at the ties of her breeches, slowly unlacing them.

" _And_?"

She swallowed, wondering how to describe  _that_ , distracted by him wiggling her breeches down just a bit.

"I...when I was in my cabin alone, I imagined my fingers as yours, touching me," she paused, a surge of bravery sending goosebumps across her skin, "sliding in and out of me, massaging me."

Heat flared in his eyes as he stared at her, then he glanced down at her center. When he curled his hands under her, his fingers dancing across her waistband, tickling the skin of her back, she answered his unspoken question by raising her hips just high enough for him to slide her breeches off.

She decided then and there that one of her favorite things was him slowly spreading her legs to see her, see what he was doing to her. The absolute abandon on his face, the  _awe_ , was beautiful.

The urge to close them struck her, the heady feeling of exposure making her heart beat faster. It was  _brighter_ in here than it was at the lagoon, but then Jack trailed one finger up her wet slit.

"... _All_  for me, darling?" he asked, his voice threaded with the first signs of huskiness as he brought his finger to his mouth, trailing his tongue across it languidly to lap up her moisture.

Any thought of retreating, of covering herself, flew out the window as she nodded wordlessly.

"Who else would it be for?" she teased, then dared to slide her own hand down, trailing her fingers across her wet folds. Jack spread her legs a bit wider, before scooting back a little.

" _Show me_ ," he whispered, smoldering at her.

" _Show you?_ "

Then his meaning dawned her in the next second.

"... _Oh_."

Gathering her courage, she laid her head back against the pillow, and took a shuddering breath, inhaling like she was about to embark on a dangerous journey, exhaling like she was prepared to meet whatever was to come next.

She moved her fingers across her folds, exploring the valleys, reveling in the satiny feel of her skin. A wave of heat seemed to come from within her, creeping up through her skin, making her chest tighten. Her strokes sped up, creating delicious friction, then slowed down as she relaxed into her touch.

Spreading her moisture around, she dipped her fingers into her entrance, working them inside, then curled them up, hot pleasure gripping her immediately.

" _Jack_ ," came out in a whisper, carried on the puff of breath that floated out of her mouth. She inclined her head to watch him and found his dark eyes watching her, fixated on her center, and it brought a minxy grin to her face as she withdrew her fingers to the tips before sliding them back in, moaning at how wet she was.

Something raw and animalistic settled itself in her chest, commanding her to step into the unknown, to give into the abandon that was gripping her heart, her mind, every inch of her body.

"I imagined your fingers moving inside me, just like this," she whispered, demonstrating with her hand, thrusting with smooth strokes. "Then I imagined you replacing them with your-"

She paused, hesitating on using such words, not that she was  _afraid_ of them necessarily, but the effect that just  _thinking_ them had on her body left her intimidated by the power of saying them out loud.

"With your  _cock_. I pictured you pushing it deep inside of me, inch by inch."

A breath that had the same sound consistency of a wave retreating from the shore emanated from Jack. She stopped her fingers for a moment, marveling in the freeing effect that her own words had on her. They were so... _wanton_ , so sexual, yet it felt completely natural to say them.

"I spent a great deal of time thinking about it, you know. I think part of it was the mystery, the wonder, the excitement of not being able to see it."

A small smile appeared on his face, as though he had known all along, and she was just confirming it for him.

"Mmm, you realize that you could have alleviated your curiosity any time you wanted, savvy?"

A brief image of her marching into Jack's cabin during the voyage to Isla Cruces and demanding that he drop his breeches made her giggle.

"We were playing a game then though, remember? It almost seemed like we were surrendering to the other if we gave in. I'm surprised you never saw me staring more... _south_."

"Who says I didn't? Why do you suppose I had to retreat to my cabin so often? You were undressing me with your eyes every time I fucking looked at you."

She recalled telling him how she had imagined him touching himself moments after she had tried to retreat from his naked form at the pool, and then resumed the movements of her hand, this time focusing on her swollen clit that was starting to peek out from under its hood.

"I wondered how big you were, how thick, what kind of shape you had,  _god_  the sinfulness of just thinking it always brought me to a near fever pitch, and the frustration of not being able to satisfy my curiosity was maddening."

Raising her head to look at him again, her hips jolted when she found him absentmindedly rubbing his own hand across the bulge in his breeches. She used her foot to knock it away.

" _Not yet_."

He sucked in a frustrated breath before tilting his head down to look at her dangerously.

"And did you ever have any theories?"

The question threw her for a loop, just for a second. She hadn't expected him to ask her that.

"I...um…"

Growing heat in her clit stole her breath for a moment as she fought for control, stilling her hand.

"I couldn't fathom you being... _small_ , for some reason. I thought perhaps...well, I had seen one before, so it wasn't like I had no idea what they looked like. But the one I saw couldn't have been more than four inches."

That earned her a snort, a gold-tinted grin spreading across Jack's face.

"I would have been massively disappointed if... _well_ , I always fancied that you were double that."

And he was, as she had first discovered when he had placed her hand on his cock under the water.

"You were always so alluring, with your kohl, and your raven-black hair, and the bronze color of your skin, that  _that_ part of you being...less than adequate would have been like finding one tiny flaw in the most perfect gemstone in the world."

"Your fears ended up being unfounded though, didn't they?" he asked, smirking deliciously at her.

She returned the smirk and nodded, rubbing her fingers across her clit again, intent on finishing it this time.

"I pictured the way your fingers would swirl around this, in rough circles. My fingers  _never_ ended up being enough. Sure I could bring myself to a finish, but it was never blinding, never swept me away like you do."

Her back arched as her strokes became harder, faster, her hips bucking against her hand.

"Did you think about touching me?"

His question brought a flood of images, a myriad of past fantasies dancing through her mind.

" _Oh...of course I did_."

She caught his hand drifting towards his straining erection trapped within his britches, and then he stopped himself, clenching his fist.

" _Well_?"

"...I thought... _oh my god_...I thought about how you might feel in my mouth, how your face would look as I pleasured you. I pictured my hand wrapped around you, stroking you..."

It brought her back to when he  _had_ been her mouth, so hard and warm, and just the thought that it was  _her_ that had brought him to that state made her body clench, sending spasms through her core.

" _...Jack_ …"

She tried to watch him as she neared her orgasm, tried to see, but then the pleasure became too great, too overwhelming, and her head tipped back, uneven moans spilling out of her as her fingers rubbed faster.

Ascending, climbing, her body was tightening, her skin felt like it was on fire, there was a burning in her very soul, her hips pushed against her hand, and then she  _surged_ , unable to even make a sound as tingling heat washed over her entire body, her back arching, her heart racing into an inferno. Then everything crystallized in a numbing peak before she started to float back down into reality, breathing heavily.

All she could do was lay there and bask in the afterglow, a soft smile on her face. Her eyes were still closed, her legs spread wide, giving Jack the perfect amount of room when he crawled up her body, propping himself up on his elbows above her.

She didn't protest when he shifted to curl his hands around the edges of her shirt, dragging it off of her, exposing her breasts, which were still heaving with each shaky breath she took. Once again naked for him, she opened her eyes to gaze up at him and became frustrated that he still had clothes on. She could feel his erection against her lower stomach, and she desperately wanted to touch it again.

"You're gorgeous, Lizzie," he whispered as he kissed his way across the skin above her breasts, causing her to shiver.

"I want to see you," was her response, just as he bent his head to capture a nipple in his mouth, reigniting the fire between her legs.

"You already did, love-"

"But it was  _dark_ , and we were still so new to each other that I didn't get the proper amount of time to look, to explore."

"Ahhh."

He shifted off of her to lay on his back to her right.

"I'm all yours,  _again_."


	9. Jack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9! Hope everyone enjoys! :)

Excitement thrummed through her body.

The most she had ever seen of Jack before the lagoon was some of his chest, only what his shirt revealed, and what he had revealed to her on the island, the bottom half of his legs, again on the island, his hands, and his face, of course. It had made the fantasy, the  _wondering_ , the images in her head that much more intense, alluring,  _addicting_.

Like she had told him, she had always imagined that she would see him, if she ever got to see him, in small portions, but having him all at once, soaking wet,  _vulnerable_ , had been almost too much for her to handle.

Now he was stretched out before her, waiting for her to begin her exploration, and she was going to take her time. The soft warm orange light from the candles was a far better companion for this task, rather than the darker bluish lighting of the jungle.

"Not sure where to start, darling?"

She abandoned her survey of his body to glance up at his face.

"Too many damn options," she responded, reaching for his belts. It took a few minutes, but after some cursing, and chuckling from him, she had both of his belts and his red and white scarf lying on the bed next to her.

"Remember that I said you need to tell me about all of your tattoos and scars?"

"Of course I remember. You said that just before you told me that you were going to hold me hostage."

She briefly wondered whether he would be open to the idea of just being her sex slave. Somehow she didn't think he would protest  _that_ much.

" _Well_ , I also want to know how you collected all of this," she motioned at his clothes, and the various trinkets he had everywhere, " _stuff_."

Really, she wanted to know all of the stories about him, where he had been, his early life, things that he wouldn't tell anyone else. She wanted to  _know_ him.

He snickered at her, his smile free of the troubling thoughts that had plagued him earlier.

"In due time, Lizzie. Unless you plan to leave me unsatisfied?" He pouted, sticking out his bottom lip just a little bit. She glanced down at the still prominent bulge in his breeches, a small thrill jumping through her.

"No, I suppose not, though it might almost be worth it to see the look on your face," she said, swinging her leg around to straddle him. She pulled his shirt out of his breeches and tugged it up, having some difficulty pulling it past his hair.

"Does your hair ever get heavy?"

"Not unless it's wet, which it is fairly often."

She leaned forward a bit to play with it, running her fingers through it, then pushing it off his shoulders to give her room to kiss them. His skin tasted like seawater, as though it was permanently part of him, and of something spicy, almost smoky.

A hundred questions were running through her mind. She wanted to ask him everything she could think of, but the question that popped out of her mouth left her blushing a bit.

"What was your first time like?"

He looked at her in surprise, but she saw no guard go up, saw no indication that he was uncomfortable.

"Wow, can't say I expected you to ask  _that_."

"I'm  _curious_."

"You're always curious, darling."

She traced the muscles in his arms, finding all of the scars in his skin that she could see, tracing those too, feeling the raised edges, the puckered bits. Some people saw scars as shameful, or something to be hidden, but she felt like they were a testament to strength. Every mark on him could have taken him from her, could have prevented them from ever meeting, but he  _survived_.

"Honestly, I'm surprised that I even remember it. I think I was...fourteen or fifteen. It happened on a ship, not that that would surprise you. Wasn't exactly that spectacular though."

"Oh really?" she giggled, glancing up at him as she chose random places on his chest to pepper more kisses as he watched her. "You didn't start out as a paragon of sexuality?"

"Are you going to lose faith in me if I say no? And trust me, I learned quickly."

A blush covered her cheeks. There was more than enough evidence to support  _that_.

"Do you have... _any idea_  how difficult it was to walk away from you on the mast? I'm going to perhaps turn a little insensitive here, because there is a whole different conversation we...need to have about that, but that  _kiss_ , feeling your body against mine, feeling-" she paused to point at his cock, "that against me, I had half a mind to just let myself get eaten too if only to touch you more."

She tried to show it in her eyes at the same time, in the quiet timbre of her voice, that she had wanted to stay there just for him too, that she had wanted to undo everything that she had done in that moment, that it was the most horrific thing she had ever...tried to show him how sorry she was, how much she was  _against_ her actions.

But there was no denying the energy between them in that moment either, the electricity, the raw intensity that was perhaps fueled by the carnal act of betrayal, of...she didn't even know what to call it.

Daring to watch his face for his reaction, she caught the barest hint of a guard, the barest hint of remembrance.

"You have... _no idea_  how much I regretted...I hated it, and I wanted nothing more than to turn back time a few seconds, just a few moments, because I would have forgotten the shackles, would have never even touched them, and I would have gone down with you...I would have…"

The muscles in her throat were starting to churn, starting to close up as the telltale ache behind her eyes warned her of incoming tears, and then they did fill her eyes, tumbling over onto her cheeks regardless of how many times she blinked them back, or tightened the muscles in her face to will them away.

When they wouldn't stop, wouldn't recede, her hand flew up to cover her face, embarrassed that she was turning something that was supposed to be sensual into…

Then, Jack sat up, surprising her with the shifting of his weight, and gently removed her hand, wrapping it in the warmth of his own, pulling it to lay against his chest, where his heart was beating in a steady rhythm. His other hand came up to brush at her tears, wiping them away with his thumb, but the tender look in his eyes, the way he was looking at her, as though he wanted nothing more than to chase her pain away, only made her chest swell with emotion, only made her brain turn to mush even further with the release of all the pent up guilt and remorse that she had buried inside her head.

How could he want to...how could he care for her so after what she had done to him? A man so against betrayal, so averse to not being free, so hardened by the life that he had led, evidenced by every single scar on his skin. How could he love her still?

The second more tears spilled forth, the second her face crumpled against her will, he gathered her completely in his arms, her head burying itself into the crook of his neck, her arms wrapping around him, his hand disappearing in her hair, his other hand trailing soft circles on her back.

It was there, cradled against him, the warm skin of his shoulder against her face, the sturdy frame of his body such a comforting contrast, that she finally allowed herself to cry, to really cry, to release all of the pain that she had resigned herself to keeping within her forever.

She heard him whisper " _Lizzie_ " into her hair, and the timbre of his voice was unlike anything she had ever heard from him. It sounded more delicate, losing some of its roughness, almost  _younger_. When she shook her head and clung tighter to him, he sighed softly and let her cry for a good twenty minutes, just holding her, stroking her hair, placing soft kisses against her shoulder, her neck, her ear, and she realized that she had never felt more  _safe_ , more  _loved_ , than she did at that moment.

He wasn't Captain Jack Sparrow, the fearsome pirate of the Caribbean, he wasn't the dangerous rouge that she had read about in her books, he wasn't the guarded man that she had flirted with on the way to Isla Cruces, he was just  _Jack_ , and he was  _hers_ , letting her see him, letting her see inside, where no one else had ever gotten the privilege of going, let her hold his heart in her hands, stamping her name on it.

When she finally quieted with a few shudders of her shoulders, a few hiccups, he tugged on a few strands of her hair, nudged at her, and she got the message when a whispered " _hey"_  left his mouth. She let him push her away so that she was looking at his face again, looking at the complete openness in his eyes that nearly made every single tear flow back into her eyes just so they could fall out again.

She tried to say something, tried to maybe apologize for weeping against him, or crack some kind of joke, but then he shook his head, just the tiniest movement, and cupped her face in his hand. His face held only an endearing anxiousness, mixed with the sweetest concern, and it occurred to her that he didn't normally engage in the practice of comforting someone.

He took her hand again, placed it against his chest again, and she could feel his heart there once more, strong and steady, so full of life.

"Do you feel that?"

It came out quietly, as though he was testing the waters of this, testing the boundaries, figuring out how he should proceed even as he ventured forth. She could only nod wordlessly to his question, dropping her eyes to look at where her hand rested.

"You came and got me, love. You're the reason I'm even here…"

His voice trailed off, and she lifted her head to look at him again.

"When Tia asked all of us if we were willing to go on that voyage, when she got to me, I didn't even hesitate. I wouldn't have hesitated regardless of what it was that she asked me to do. As long as I got to see you again, see your face again…"

The words were gurgly still from crying, but he understood them.

"I don't... _Lizzie_ , I just can't find it in me to be angry with you. Anyone else, they would be dead and  _hated_  forever, but  _you_ …you just make a mess of me," he paused to tap his head, "in here. I'm not really used to that, to someone getting that far…"

She opened her mouth to say that she  _knew,_  but he shook his head again.

"I wanted to be angry with you, I really wanted to, but somehow I knew that you were sorry, that you regretted it, as much as I knew that I fair and square had it coming. I only wish that I would have tried a little harder to show you that you could trust me to stay there...Then again, I suppose rowing away from the ship in the middle of the battle wasn't the best course of action…"

That got a small laugh out of her, a release of tension that she so desperately needed.

"I just wish," she started, drawing her brows together. "I just wish it would have never happened, it makes...I have never regretted anything more in my life-"

"You're forgiven, love."

It was the said in the softest voice that she had ever heard from him, as though he had struggled with the idea of saying it for a long time, and she knew that just being this vulnerable with her at all was a huge struggle for him, but…

She searched his eyes, reaching a hand out to touch him, then hesitating, almost afraid that he would disappear, because this just seemed too good to be a reality.

"Are...are you sure?"

It seemed like a silly thing to ask when he had just convinced her so completely, but...

The trinkets in his hair clinked together when he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Me being sure has nothing to do with it. I just...I just love you so damn much that I can't  _not_ forgive you for it."

It came out in a breathy tone, a rushed jumble of words, and she wondered if he would ever feel completely comfortable telling her that he loved her.

"I think I forgave you the second you did it," he continued. "Just the pain in your eyes, despite you trying to act all tough and pirate-y, was so… _real_."

She dropped her head down, feeling too overwhelmed to look anywhere else, yet knowing she needed to say  _something_.

"I-" was as far as she got before he put two fingers under her chin and gently lifted her head up again.

"It's over and done with, love. I'm here, you're here, on the  _Pearl_. Time to move on, savvy?  _Now_ , how about that  _exploration_  that you were so hell bent on performing?"


End file.
